function of "as well as his friends"

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hela

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Dear teachers,
Would you please tell me what's the function of the following phrase and what is it called?

Paul, as well as his friends, has decided to give up smoking.
Paul = subject
has decided = verb
to give up smoking = direct object

What about "as well as his friends" ?

Thank you in advance
 

TheParser

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Dear teachers,
Would you please tell me what's the function of the following phrase and what is it called?

Paul, as well as his friends, has decided to give up smokin

Hello,


1. As I reported to you in the other thread, many people consider its "function" to be a parenthetical element.

2. I have another explanation that may interest you. Consider this sentence:

...have made it clear that science, as well as political and social theory, is a battleground in the cold war between the West and the East.

3. As I said, many people would classify "as well as political and social theory" as a parenthetical element. That would be its "function."

4. But some people have another theory. Perhaps a theory that may please you more.

5. One scholar says that the subject "science" is modified by the prepositional phrase beginning with "as well as."

a. In other words, you can find people who use the word "preposition" to describe words such as:

together with
along with
in addition to
as well as


6. If you like this theory, then you can say with confidence that the "function" of "as well as his friends" is:

prepositional phrase that modifies the subject "Paul."


James


My source is a book named Understanding Grammar (1954) by Dr. Paul Roberts, page 278.
 

hela

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Yes ! The second interpretation pleases me more. :-D

Would you please give me the name of the person "who has made it clear that science..." to complete the example ?

Thanks a million, James [SUP]![/SUP]
 

Frank Antonson

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I would call "as well as" a phrasal conjunction. It works much as "and" . Whether or not it is parethentical will be shown by the number of the verb.

Frank
 

TheParser

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Yes ! The second interpretation pleases me more. :-D

Would you please give me the name of the person "who has made it clear that science..." to complete the example ?

Thanks a million, James [SUP]![/SUP]

I have suspended myself for a week from giving any answers to anyone. I hope to reply when my suspension expires.

James
 

Frank Antonson

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Well earned, Parser.

Enjoy your suspension.

Frank
 

Barb_D

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Ignore the "as well as."
5. Do not be misled by a phrase that comes between the subject and the verb. The verb agrees with the subject, not with a noun or pronoun in the phrase.


The team captain, as well as his players, is anxious.


Purdue OWL: Subject/Verb Agreement
 

Frank Antonson

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As it is punctuated, I agree. Certainly. But there you go, mixing a part of a sentence i.e. "subject" with a part of speech i.e. "verb" (instead of "simple predicate").

Also, I assume that you mean ignore "as well as his PLAYERS".

Frank
 

Frank Antonson

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What do you mean by that?

Frank
 

TheParser

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Would you please give me the name of the person "who has made it clear that science..." to complete the example ?


Hello, Hela:


I am very sorry but the book does not quote the whole sentence. The three dots show that the author has

deleted some words in front of the word "have."

The book does, however, report that those words were written by Harold H. Plough in an issue of the magazine

American Scholar. (No issue date was given for the magazine.)


James


UPDATE:


I went to the "books" section of Google but was unable to find the complete quotation. I did, however, discover the following info:

Magazine name: The American Scholar.

Volume: 18.

Page: 291.
 
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hela

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Thank you very much, James, for all the work you do to answer all our questions.
Kindest regards
 

philo2009

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Dear teachers,
Would you please tell me what's the function of the following phrase and what is it called?

Paul, as well as his friends, has decided to give up smoking.
Paul = subject
has decided = verb
to give up smoking = direct object

What about "as well as his friends" ?

Thank you in advance

Despite its origins as the introduction to a simple equative comparison (as: adverb, well: adverb, as: conjunction), 'as well as' in contemporary usage most commonly serves as a phrasal preposition, meaning something like 'in addition to', and that is how I would parse it here.

The phrase 'as well as his friends' would thus be reckoned a prepositional phrase.
 
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hela

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a prepositional phrase complementing the noun "Paul" ?
 

philo2009

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a prepositional phrase complementing the noun "Paul" ?

Hardly a complement of any kind, since it's grammatically optional. Rather an adverbial adjunct to the predicate.
 

TheParser

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a prepositional phrase complementing the noun "Paul" ?

Hello, Hela:

1. According to that book cited in post #2, the answer is YES. That is, it says that the phrase modifies the singular noun.

a. I also did not include this from that book: "John as well as James" means nearly the same thing as "John and James."

*****

2. I have found two other books that agree with your idea that the phrase is somehow connected to the singular noun.

a. "If a subject in the singular is associated by means of with, together with, as well as, no less than, like, but, except, and other words which logically though not formally constitute a part of the subject, ...."

(Source: Professor Dr. George Oliver Curme, A Grammar of the English Language (1931), Vol. II, page 49.)

b. "Singular nouns with plural modifiers, ...as in The father, with his sons, has been honored."

(Source: House and Harman, Descriptive English Grammar (1931 and 1950), page 144.)


HAVE A NICE DAY!


James
 
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