Hello, Crowned:
Thank you for your kind note.
I OCCASIONALLY try to comment in the "Ask a Teacher" forum and in this forum (because I am madly in love with the Reed-Kellogg diagramming system),
but I NEVER dare post in the "Linguistics" forum. I feel that it is a forum only for people who know their "linguistics," and I certainly do NOT. Even the word scares me.
I am so glad that you and Anhnha posted this topic.
James
*****
Here is something that may interest you and Anhnha:
1. In past years, it seems that many grammarians felt that "as" should NEVER be parsed as a preposition.
2. Today, of course, that "rule" is no longer considered valid. After all, that big book that I cited says that "as" is a preposition in sentences such as "It strikes me as (being) odd."
3. Please look at this sentence from a very good (in my opinion!) book:
"This tree will serve us as a windshield."
a. Do you think that most people would simply call "as" a preposition?
b. Well, this book claims that the sentence is simply an ellipsis of a much longer sentence. It claims that the "complete" sentence is:
"This tree will serve us as [ = conjunction] a windshield [would serve us]."
c. IF that is true, is it possible that there is also an ellipsis in something like: "It strikes me as odd that James refused to marry Mona."
(i) Is it possible, then, that the "complete" sentence would be something like:
"It strikes me as [something] odd [would strike me] that James refused to marry Mona."
I am not confident to say either way. But I AM confident to say that most people in 2014 would say, "Call it a preposition and forget about the matter."
But since I want to diagram it, I would like to know.
Hopefully, Mr. A -- who often draws diagrams in this forum -- will help us.
(That "good" book is English Review Grammar (1940; copyright renewed in 1968) by Walter Kay Smart. He has given the most complete explanation about the word "as" that I have ever found. He states: "The word as presents many difficult problems." He is SO right! And he claims: "In most instances, as coveys at least a suggestion of an adverbial relation."