Angliholic  +  560580 Sun, 31 Aug 08 01:45 AM Be careful when you walk on the beach in bare feet. Hi, Is "in" in the above optional? If not, what does it mean? Thanks. Angliholic Joined on Wed, Feb 14 2007 SomewhereinFormosa Veteran Member 6,474 Without true love, life is meaningless and worthless since our physical world is nothing but a dream. ~~Angliholic~~簡瑞達

	Avangi  +  560590 Sun, 31 Aug 08 03:16 AM We walked barefoot on the beach.  Here, "barefoot" is an adverb telling only how we walked. We walked on the beach in bare feet.  Here, the prepositional phrase "in bare feet" is also adverbial in function, but modifies the entire clause, "we walked on the beach."  The preposition "in" shows the relation between the "mode" in which we appeared and the action we performed.  The "in" is not optional. We decided to go to the dance in costume  /  in full evening dress  /  in our work clothes  / in the nude. You should not try to perform the tango while the orchestra is playing in waltz time.  Of course you don't have to use a prepositional phrase.  You could say, "while the orchestra is playing a waltz."   - A. Avangi Joined on Mon, Nov 19 2007 Veteran Member 8,194 ". . . le plaisir delicieux et toujours nouveau d'une occupation inutile." - Henri de Regnier Verbs, Prepositions, Clauses, Adverbs