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Chomool Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

years before

she played the violin years before her brother did.

why it can be used like this, 'years before'? what's the grammatical term of this phrase?
  

Top answer

chomool what's the grammatical term of this phrase? 'Years' is just an adverb, I think. She played the violin just before her brother did.

— Mister Micawber

  • chomool what's the grammatical term of this phrase?
  • 'Years' is just an adverb, I think.
  • She played the violin just before her brother did.
  • She played the violin long before her brother did.
  • She played the violin a few minutes before her brother did .
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6 Answers
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chomoolwhat's the grammatical term of this phrase?
'Years' is just an adverb, I think.

She played the violin just before her brother did.
She played the violin long before her brother did.
She played the violin a few minutes before her brother did.
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Mister Micawber'Years' is just an adverb, I think.
'Years' must be a noun.

In that particular sentence, I don't think we can refer to 'years before' as a phrase.
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fivejedjon'Years' must be a noun.
Gus! Gus!
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chomool'years before'? What's the grammatical term for this phrase?
As already noted, it isn’t a phrase. The noun phrase years modifies the preposition phrase before her brother did, forming the larger PP years before her brother did.

Note:

(b) NPs indicating spatial and temporal
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Aspara GusAs already noted, it isn’t a phrase. The noun phrase years modifies the preposition phrase before her brother did, forming the larger PP years before her brother did.
Is "before" in "before her brother did" really a preposition??
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GPYIs "before" in "before her brother did" really a preposition??
I see a number of good reasons for calling it a preposition.
(http://preposition.blog.com/2014/05/15/hello-world
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