What part of speech "...to the island" ?

Question

Hey EnglishForward experts--need your help. I was trying to help my niece with her homework and got stuck. She was supposed to identify the parts of speech in the sentence "Bob took a boat to the island."

I was able to tell her that "Bob" is the subject, "took" is the verb, "boat" is the object, but then I had no idea what "to the island" is. I tried looking it up but still can't figure it out. Is it a prepositional phrase, adjectival phrase, or something else? Or does "to the island" need to be taken apart?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Marsten Everson

RandomGuy · Accepted Answer

AnonymousIs it a prepositional phrase, …

Yes. You could also call it an adverbial phrase.

Anonymous · Answer

Aspara GusYou could also call it an adverbial phrase.

Thank you for your super quick response. Unfortunately, I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around "to the island" being an adverbial phrase. For it to serve that function, wouldn't the phrase have to to modify "took" to be an adverb? I'm afraid I don't see how the phrase works with the verb in this case (I've probably been out of school for far too long, so please bear with me).

Thanks,

Marsten Everson

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousShe was supposed to identify the parts of speech in the sentence "Bob took a boat to the island."

Bob - noun (proper noun) [not "subject". "subject" is not a part of speech.]
took - verb
a - determiner
boat - noun (common noun) [not "object". "object" is not a part of speech.]
to - preposition
the - determiner
island - noun (common noun)
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"to the island" is a prepositional phrase, but "prepositional phrase" is not a part of speech. "Part of speech" applies only to one word at a time. The prepositional phrase "to the island" contains three words, and therefore three parts of speech.

CJ

RandomGuy · Answer

AnonymousI'm afraid I don't see how the phrase works with the verb in this case

Well, my reasoning for calling it adverbial is that the phrase can be replaced by an adverb, such as upstairs and home. It works with the verb in that it tells us where he took the boat to.

CalifJim"to the island" is a prepositional phrase, but "prepositional phrase" is not a part of speech.

That’s a good point, CJ. However, would you call the phrase adverbial?

CalifJim · Answer

Aspara GusHowever, would you call the phrase adverbial?

There are so many opinions on these that I actually end up confusing myself when thinking about these! Too many different schools of analysis these days.

I think it's a complement to the verb "take" in the same way that 'modern linguistics' regards "in the cupboard" as a complement in "Edna put the sugar in the cupboard". Reason: "Edna put the sugar" can't stand on its own.

"Bob took a boat" can only stand on its own with a different meaning of "took" (stole), so I believe we are supposed to discount that and say that "Bob took a boat" can't stand on its own with the intended meaning. Thus, "to the island" is a PP (preposition phrase) complement. (I'm still trying to catch on to this modern grammar thing.)

Even so, in traditional grammar, I don't suppose there is any alternative but to say that "to the island" acts like an adverb.

CJ

RandomGuy · Answer

CalifJim"Bob took a boat" can only stand on its own with a different meaning of "took" (stole), so I believe we are supposed to discount that and say that "Bob took a boat" can't stand on its own with the intended meaning. Thus, "to the island" is a PP (preposition phrase) complement.

That makes sense to me. Thanks.

EDIT: On second thought, I took a bus is a complete thought, and a prepositional phrase like to the mall is not structurally required, so how is I took a boat any different grammatically?

Consider this.

- How did you get to the island?
- I took a boat.

What part of speech "...to the island" ?

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