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Anonymous Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
Today I begin a new life.
In the sentence "Today I will begin a new life.", what is the word "Today"? I've discussed this with others, and I've received different answers. One person says that "Today I" is a prepositional phrase, therefore the word "today" is a preposition (To day I). Another person says that it is a determiner that limits the pronoun "I" (limited to today). And yet another says that it qualifies as an adverb because it expresses a relationship of time in the verb phrase "Today I begin".
Personally, I was thinking that the word "Today" was a noun that could be replaced with any given day of the week without changing context. For example,
"Today I begin a new life" could also be "Monday I begin a new life". In this example, the word "Monday" is not a preposition, determiner, or adverb (even though it continues to express a relationship of time), but rather it is a noun. The word "Today" in itself can function as several parts of speech (exactly which parts depends on which dictionary you inquire), but it's most notable as a noun.
Is "Today" a noun in this context, and if so, why is it not a preposition, determiner or a adverb. If I'm wrong, then why not a noun? It appears to me that those who believe the word "Today" in this context to be the part of speech that they thought have provided reasonable evidence to support their belief. I'd appreciate any help.
Personally, I was thinking that the word "Today" was a noun that could be replaced with any given day of the week without changing context. For example,
"Today I begin a new life" could also be "Monday I begin a new life". In this example, the word "Monday" is not a preposition, determiner, or adverb (even though it continues to express a relationship of time), but rather it is a noun. The word "Today" in itself can function as several parts of speech (exactly which parts depends on which dictionary you inquire), but it's most notable as a noun.
Is "Today" a noun in this context, and if so, why is it not a preposition, determiner or a adverb. If I'm wrong, then why not a noun? It appears to me that those who believe the word "Today" in this context to be the part of speech that they thought have provided reasonable evidence to support their belief. I'd appreciate any help.
Top answer
Today I will begin a new life . It's an adverb here. Monday I will begin a new life is casual English, said by some people and not said by others.
- Today I will begin a new life .
- It's an adverb here.
- Monday I will begin a new life is casual English, said by some people and not said by others.
- Standard English is On Monday I will begin a new life.
- Here, Monday is a noun.
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2 Answers
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Today I will begin a new life. It's an adverb here.
Monday I will begin a new life is casual English, said by some people and not said by others. Standard English is On Monday I will begin a new life. Here, Monday is a noun. Note that you can't say On today I will begin a new life.
Monday I will begin a new life is casual English, said by some people and not said by others. Standard English is On Monday I will begin a new life. Here, Monday is a noun. Note that you can't say On today I will begin a new life.
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I see; so therefore the sentence "Monday I will begin a new life." is not grammatically correct. For some reason, in order to be technically correct (using the same example verbatim), one must, at the very least, create a prepositional phrase by interpolating the preposition "On" between the beginning of the sentence and the noun "Monday".
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