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Yantin Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
Subject
"The man, a teacher in ABC school, ate an apple "
the man is the subject, so "a teacher in ABC school" the subject too? ,
the man is the subject, so "a teacher in ABC school" the subject too? ,
Top answer
The man , a teacher in ABC school , ate an apple . The answer depends on how you analyse appositive noun phrases that are set apart by commas, like a teacher in ABC school is in your example. In the most basic analysis, it is simply a modifier of the noun phrase the man , and the two NPs combine to form the subject The man, a teacher in ABC school .
- The man , a teacher in ABC school , ate an apple .
- The answer depends on how you analyse appositive noun phrases that are set apart by commas, like a teacher in ABC school is in your example.
- In the most basic analysis, it is simply a modifier of the noun phrase the man , and the two NPs combine to form the subject The man, a teacher in ABC school .
- In a more rigorous analysis, the NP a teacher in ABC school is a supplementary appositive, one that is not integrated into the syntactic structure of the sentence.
- In that analysis, the appositive NP is analysed as a predicative complement, so the subject is just the first NP The man .
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5 Answers
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The man, a teacher in ABC school, ate an apple.
The answer depends on how you analyse appositive noun phrases that are set apart by commas, like a teacher in ABC school is in your example. In the most basic analysis, it is simply a modifier of the noun phrase the man, and the two NPs combine to form the subject The man, a teacher in ABC school.
The answer depends on how you analyse appositive noun phrases that are set apart by commas, like a teacher in ABC school is in your example. In the most basic analysis, it is simply a modifier of the noun phrase the man, and the two NPs combine to form the subject The man, a teacher in ABC school.
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Hi, BillJ,
BillJIn that analysis, the appositive NP is analysed as a predicative complement, ...You lost me here. An appositive is always structurally dispensable, so how could it be analyzed as a complement?
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Thanks BillJ
Hi Aspara,
so , "a teacher in ABC school" is an adjunct?
Hi Aspara,
so , "a teacher in ABC school" is an adjunct?
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Aspara GusHi, BillJ,BillJIn that analysis, the appositive NP is analysed as a predicative complement, ...You lost me here. An appositive is always structurally dispensable, so how could it be analyzed as a complement?In my haste to reply, and sloppy last-minute change in the wording, I mucked it up completely. You are correct; an appositive NP cannot possibly
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yantinso , "a teacher in ABC school" is an adjunct?You could think of it as an adjunct in its broadest sense, but grammatically an adjunct is considered to be a modifier in clause structure, i.e. one that modifies a verb or verb phrase. Personally, I would treat it as a supplement, an element that sits outside the syntactic structure of the sentence.
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