adverb phrase or adverb clause?

Share on Facebook

Anonymous

#569580 Tue, 23 Sep 08 04:45 PM

Hello,

I'd like to know if the part I'm sure is an adverb clause or an adverb phrase - or possibly neither of it.

You can enjoy your holiday now, I'm sure.

Thanks!

Anonymous

Verbs, Clauses, Adverbs

Clive

#569594 Tue, 23 Sep 08 05:13 PM

Hi,

I'd like to know if the part I'm sure is an adverb clause or an adverb phrase - or possibly neither of it.

You can enjoy your holiday now, I'm sure.
A sentence like this is characteristic of relaxed and casual speech and grammar.
I don't see anything adverbial here. Instead, I'd consider these two approaches to understanding what is really meant.

1.You can enjoy your holiday now. I'm sure. ie 2 separate statements
or
2. I'm sure (that) you can enjoy your holiday now. Here, 'I'm sure ' is the main clause and the rest is a subordinate clause explaing what I am sure of.

I favour approach #2. As you can see, it's just rearranging the existing word order.

Best wishes, Clive

Clive

Joined on Thu, Oct 28 2004

Canada

Veteran Member (22,243)

El tango argentino es un pensamiento triste que se puede bailar (The tango argentino is a sad thought which can be danced) Enrique Santos Discépolo

Verbs, Grammar, Clauses, Adverbs, Word order

richard_s

#575124 Fri, 10 Oct 08 12:13 PM

I think it might be a kind of appositive. I am not really sure about this because it is not a part of speech that I have researched much. But certainly inserted or tagged on information that is not clausal is appositive. One problem with think that it is an appositive is that it is definitely a clause with subject, verb, and complement. If this is the case, then Clive's punctuation above is correct.

richard_s

Joined on Sun, Oct 5 2008

Adelaide, Australia

Junior Member (65)

Richard Stevenson IELI, Sturt Campus Flinders University, South Australia

Verbs, Clauses, Adverbs, Punctuation

richard_s

#575323 Sat, 11 Oct 08 01:53 AM

This example appears to fit what is called 'non-embedded indirect reported speech' on p1024 of The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. This basically fits with Clive's second (and favourite) suggestion.

Embedded indirect reported speech follows the pattern:

I'm sure (that) you can enjoy your holiday now.

Non-embedded indirect reported speech is a rearrangement of the clause as Clive suggests.

I.e. You can enjoy your holiday now, I'm sure.

richard_s

Verbs, Grammar, Clauses, Adverbs