thanks for your reply.
I am confused about the placement of adverbial objective "nearly 50 years in the sentence
1) The pilot has sent a note of condolence nearly 50 years after.......(looks odd to me)
2) But if we write - The pilot has sent a note of condolence after nearly 50 years (It looks ok)
Please guide.
Rajan
The pilot + has sent a note of condolence + nearly 50 years + after shooting down an airplane.
The pilot = subject.
has sent a note of condolence. = predicate (verb + object).
nearly 50 years = that is a noun phrase. As Teacher Riquecohen told you and
me, that noun is being used as an adverb. Some books call it an adverbial
objective. "Nearly 50 years" modifies/ explains/ clarifies/ belongs to the verb
"has sent." In other words, "The pilot has sent a note of condolence to the extent of
50 years."
after shooting down an airplane. = prepositional phrase ("after" is a preposition here).
It explains "nearly 50 years." So -- as Teacher Riquecohen taught us -- we
can just call "nearly 50 years after shooting down an airplane" an adverbial phrase
(or adverbial objective).
[/QUOTE]
***** NOT A TEACHER *****
(1) Please let me simplify your sentence even more:
"The pilot apologized nearly 50 years after the incident."
(a)
I was wrong!!!
(i) I said that "nearly 50 years" was an adverbial objective (a noun that acts like an
adverb) that modifies the verb.
(ii) I just found this similar sentence in my favorite grammar book:
He came
a month before the inauguration.
The book says that "a month" is an adverbial objective that modifies the
preposition
"before." In other words: He came to the inauguration to the extent of a month before the inauguration.
(iii) So in "He apologized
nearly 50 years after the incident," the adverbial objective
modifies the preposition "after": He apologized after the incident to the extent of 50
years after (the incident)./ "He sent a note of condolence nearly 50 years after shooting down the plane": "nearly 50 years" modifies the preposition "after." He sent a note of condolence after (to the extent of 50 years) shooting down the plane.
Please pardon me for my wrong analysis in my first post. I hope that I am correct
this time.
*****
I think that the following are "good" English:
He has sent a note of condolence nearly 50 years
after/ afterwards/ later.
Those words in bold are adverbs. And the adverbial objective ("nearly 50 years")
modifies the adverb. That is, He sent a note of condolence after/afterwards/later
to the extent of 50 years.
(You say that "He sent a note of condolence
after nearly 50 years" looks OK to
you. Well, maybe you are correct. Let's see what a teacher says. If no one
answers, then start a new thread with that one question.)