The sword
It's a common accusation made against Muslims and Islam in general: “The only reason Islam is a world religion is because it spread by the sword.”
<LOST ISLAMIC HISTORY : http://lostislamichistory.com/did-islam-spread-by-the-sword/>
Here "spread" is an intransitive verb, so I was wondering how an intransitive verb is qualified by a "by" prepositional phrase.
Thank you in advance for you help.
Top answer
The only reason Islam is a world religion is because it spread by the sword . Verbs freely take preposition phrases as modifiers and most often the PPs are adjuncts. In your example, the PP "by the sword" modifies "spread", and functions as a manner adjunct: it answers the question 'How did Islam spread?
- The only reason Islam is a world religion is because it spread by the sword .
- Verbs freely take preposition phrases as modifiers and most often the PPs are adjuncts.
- In your example, the PP "by the sword" modifies "spread", and functions as a manner adjunct: it answers the question 'How did Islam spread?
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The only reason Islam is a world religion is because it spread by the sword.
Verbs freely take preposition phrases as modifiers and most often the PPs are adjuncts. In your example, the PP "by the sword" modifies "spread", and functions as a manner adjunct: it answers the question 'How did Islam spread?
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