Word classes

Question

I'm trying to determine the word classes in this sentence.
I wonder if "insist on" is a lexical verb and on a preposition followed by the noun "retaining" or if (as defined here) "instist on" is a phrasal verb and "retaining " a lexical verb.
It is the same with "strive for returning" in the second part of the sentence.

Whereas (subordinating conjunction) the (definite article) former (adjective) insist on (phrasal verb?) retaining (lexical verb?) the (definite article) precious (adjective) stone objects (common noun) in (preposition) the (definite article) British Museum, the (definite article) latter (adjective) strive for (phrasal verb?) returning (lexical verb?) them (personal pronoun) to (preposition) their (personal pronoun) birthplace (common noun) in (preposition) Athens (proper noun).

Thanks!

GPY · Accepted Answer

I would say that "retaining the precious stone objects" is a noun phrase and "retaining" itself is a gerund. I guess that "insist on" probably does qualify as a phrasal verb.

"strive for returning them" is not good English. However, I would analyse it similarly. It seems less clear to me that "strive for" would qualify as a phrasal verb though.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

It would help us if you posted the plain sentence without annotation in addition.

Whereas the former (~~adjective~~) insist on (phrasal verb) retaining (~~lexical verb?~~) the (definite article) precious (adjective) stone (noun adjunct) objects (common noun) in (preposition) the (definite article) British Museum, (proper name/proper noun). the (definite article) latter ~~(adjective)~~ strive for (phrasal verb) returning ~~(lexical verb?)~~ them (personal pronoun) to (preposition) their (personal pronoun) birthplace (common noun) in (preposition) Athens (proper noun).

Comments:
1) insist on is a verb. What is its subject?
2) strive for is a verb. What is its subject?
3) How are the words "retaining" and "returning" used in the sentence?

Anonymous · Answer

AlpheccaStars1) insist on is a verb. What is its subject?2) strive for is a verb. What is its subject?3) How are the words "retaining" and "returnin

1) the former;

2) the latter;

3) as the gerundive (noun-like) present participle (ing-forms) constructions functioning as objects of prepositions.

RandomGuy · Answer

DebbyyPWhereas (subordinating conjunction) the (definite article) former (adjective) insist on (phrasal verb?) retaining (lexical verb?) the (definite article) precious (adjective) stone objects (common noun) in (preposition) the (definite article) British Museum, the (definite article) latter (adjective) strive for (phrasal verb?) returning (lexical verb?) them (personal pronoun) to (preposition) their (personal pronoun) birthplace (common noun) in (preposition) Athens (proper noun).

I would go with the more modern approach and call whereas a preposition (with a content clause complement).

The is indeed a definite article, but that’s not the name of a word class. In my grammar, that would be ‘determinative’.

Insist on and strive for are not verbs, not even constituents. Syntactically, the prepositions on and for belong with their complements, not with their governing verbs:

insist [on retaining the precious stone objects in the British Museum] .....[verb + preposition phrase]
strive [for returning them to their birthplace in Athens]............................[verb + preposition phrase]

Stone objects is two nouns.

You are right to label former and latter adjectives. They are fused with an understood plural noun.

And yes, retaining and returning are lexical verbs in your sentence.

CalifJim · Answer

DebbyyPI wonder if ... "instist on" is a phrasal verb

No. It's a prepositional verb. Same for "strive for".

One of the biggest clues is that the following are ungrammatical:

to insist it on
to strive it for

Phrasal verbs allow that construction:

to put it off
to throw it out

See

CJ

RandomGuy · Answer

CalifJimIt's a prepositional verb. Same for "strive for".

Don’t you mean that insist and strive are prepositional verbs?

GPY · Answer

CalifJimNo. It's a prepositional verb. Same for "strive for".

I think that some people consider prepositional verbs to be a subset of phrasal verbs. I think the use of this terminology varies.

Anonymous · Answer

Does this mean retaining/returning is the lexical verb?

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Aspara GusYou are right to label former and latter adjectives. They are fused with an understood plural noun.

But Debby's teacher might not be using your modern labeling system.

The "fused adjective/noun" is clearly the subject of its verb, and thus a nominal function.
I recommend that Debby just understand how these phrases are used, and ask her teacher or consult her textbook to find)what the appropriate label is.

Aspara GusAnd yes, retaining and returning are lexical verbs in your sentence.

But they are not finite verbs. Again, it is important for Debby to understand the parsing of the phrases and clauses. She should ask her teacher (or consult her textbook) on the appropriate label.

The system of labeling depends on what reference you are using, and there are different systems.

RandomGuy · Answer

AlpheccaStarsBut Debby's teacher might not be using your modern labeling system.

We don’t even know that Debby has a teacher. For all we know, she could be a native speaker who is curious about English grammar.

AlpheccaStarsThe "fused adjective/noun" is clearly the subject of its verb, and thus a nominal function.

Yes, but Debby wanted to determine its word class, not its function. Adjectives don’t just suddenly switch to being nouns when they head noun phrases, and it would seem that she picked up on that.

Would you say the underlined words below are nouns or adjectives?

I went up that skyscraper in Boston, but the tallest is in Chicago.
Should I wear the red shirt or the blue?
The youngest of their children was still at school.
The rich only get richer.
How will the new system affect the very poor?
Lucie likes big dogs, but I prefer small.
He was at his most obstructive.

AlpheccaStarsBut they are not finite verbs. Again, it is important for Debby to understand the parsing of the phrases and clauses.

But they are verbs nonetheless. Again, the OP was asking about word classes, and the words in question clearly belong to the verb category, as is evident from their direct objects.

Word classes

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