meeting is at 2:00

[hela]

Dear teachers,

I read that the linking/intensive verb BE can be followed by an adverbial of place only.
What about this sentence then ?

The meeting is at two o'clock.

How would you analyse at two o'clock ? Is it a complement (SVC) or an adverbial (SVA) ?

Many thanks

 

[TheParser]

I read that the linking/intensive verb BE can be followed by an adverbial of place only.

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Hello, Hela:


I do not know where you read that, but I most respectfully disagree.

Here are some sentences from a very good grammar book:

The ring is of gold.
The teacher is in a very bad humor.
He is out of funds.

The book says that those prepositional phrases are subjective complements.

IF you accept that opinion, then your sentence is simply a case of SVC.



James


Source: House and Harman, Descriptive English Grammar.

 

[hela]

Hello James,

Sorry, I didn't express myself correctly. What I meant is that if a linking verb is followed by an adverbial, it should be an adverbial of place only and not any kind of adverbial, such as an adverbial of time for example.
In view of this, "at 2 o'clock" can only be a subject complement and not an adverbial of time ?

All the best

 

[hela]

Hello James,

Do you agree with what I said above ?

"at 2 o'clock" can only be a subject complement and not an adverbial of time ?

Thanks again

 

[TheParser]

If a linking verb is followed by an adverbial, it should be an adverbial of place only.

Could you give us an example of a linking verb followed by an adverbial of place?


Thank you,



James

 

[hela]

Hello James,

What do you think of the following: right or wrong?

1) My mother is not home yet.

My mother = noun phrase = subject
is not = verb phrase = linking verb
home = noun phrase = adverbial of place
yet = adverb phrase = adverbial of time

2) My little sister remained at school all afternoon.

My little sister = noun phrase = subject
remained = verb phrase = intransitive verb
at school = propositional phrase = adverbial of place
all afternoon = noun phrase = adverbial of time

Thanks

 

[TheParser]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Hello, Hela:


I shan't comment on your first sentence, for I do not want to give any wrong information.


I shall, however, quote from one of my favorite books:

"The teacher is in his office."

The book parses the sentence thusly:

The teacher = subject
is = full verb that means "exists"
in his office = prepositional phrase of place that modifies the verb "is."


Source: House and Harman, Descriptive English Grammar.


*****

I was shocked (shocked!) a few years ago when a moderator at another grammar helpline (no name, of course) told me that he did not realize that sometimes "to be" is a full verb, not a linking verb. I reminded him of Shakespeare's "To be or not to be."


*****

Finally, here is some info from a grammar masterpiece written in 1931:

1. The noun "home" is used as an adverb after a verb of motion (it modifies the verb):

a. "He went home."
b. "I was home by six."

i. This scholar explains that in 1.b. "the verb of motion is not expressed, but the idea of motion is implied."

c. "Jane was home," he reminds us, should actually be "Jane was at home." (There is no motion implied.)

Source: George Oliver Curme's two-volume masterpiece A Grammar of the English Language.



James