"Please sit down"

[indian123]

Hi all,
"Please, sit down".
Here, "sit down" is a phrasal verb.
Under which part of speech do we consider "down" in this sentence?

Thanks.

 

[corum]

Hi all,
"Please, sit down".
Here, "sit down" is a phrasal verb.
Under which part of speech do we consider "down" in this sentence?

Thanks.

adverb

 

[indian123]

Hi Corum,
Thanks a lot.
Could you please explain, how it becomes an adverb?

 

[corum]

Hi Corum,
Thanks a lot.
Could you please explain, how it becomes an adverb?

The meaning of 'down' in 'sit down' is something along the lines of 'to a lower position'. Constituents that convey such meaning are called adverbials. What grammatical units can realize an adverbial?

1. nouns (adverbial objective)
2. prepositional phrases
3. adverbs

By process of elimination, you will probably arrive at adverbs. Why can we rule out 'down' being a PP? Because there is either no prep or there is no complement. How about the noun interpretation?

i. I am going home.
ii. I am sitting down.

As you can see, your question is not as simple as it may seem at face value.
In i, the way I see the sentence, there is an omitted preposition:

I am going (to) home.

In ii, however, I can't imagine a preposition inserted like this:

I am siting (to) down.

Adverb is my answer to 'down' regarding its form. It is important to bear in mind that adverb is a notion related to form. Adverbial is the name for the functional counterpart.

 

[corum]

I am going slowly home. :tick:
I am going my home. :cross:

slowly seems to work but 'my' does not. Kewl!:turn-l: (I was just pursuing my thread of thought further)