Without hurting us
It can't happen without hurting us.
What kind of adjunct is the PP "without hurting us" in the sentence above? Is it an adjunct of the condition (of lack/absence of something)?
Top answer
" The preposition "without," which is often associated with "absence" or "lack of" something, does not have that function here.
- " The preposition "without," which is often associated with "absence" or "lack of" something, does not have that function here.
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This is a prepositional phrase with the gerund "hurting" functioning as a noun, but retaining verbal aspects, such that it takes a direct object "us." This is a straight adverb phrase modifying the verb "can't happen." The preposition "without," which is often associated with "absence" or "lack of" something, does not have that function here.
0To comment further on this, the given sentence is unusual usage. For example, suppose the sentence were:
"It can't happen without Jim." Here we have the familiar "absence/lack of something" sense of the preposition "without": It can't happen in the absence of Jim.
But if we revise the given sentence to try to fit it to this sense, we get: It can't happen in the absenc
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