ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: Adverb /adjective "in the garden"

thactoad — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:25:46 GMT

Many thanks CJ. I just needed the facts confirmed

thactoad

Re: Adverb /adjective "in the garden"

Goodman — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:25:16 GMT

thactoad

The children in the garden are playing football. - Is this an adjective phrase telling us more about the children?

The children are playing football in the garden. - Is this an adverb phrase of place telling where the children are playing?

However, is the phrase in both sentences also prepositional phrases?

I'm just a little confused!!!

Many thanks

This is how I approach the phrase “in the garden”, or any phrase in this nature

By itself, it’s classified as “preposition phrase” because of the use of “in”.
Children are playing [in the garden]. The bracketed phrase is now an adverbial phrase because it tells where the children are playing.
It’s not an adjective phrase however because it does not contain adjective. If the phrase were “ the tallest kid playing is the garden is my son”, then it’s an adjective phrase.

This is the extent of my understanding. Feel free to critique if I were wrong about it.

Re: Adverb /adjective "in the garden"

CalifJim — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:08:08 GMT

thactoad
The children in the garden are playing football. - Is this an adjective phrase telling us more about the children?

Yes. It tells which children are being considered -- not the children in the kitchen, for example.

thactoad
The children are playing football in the garden. - Is this an adverb phrase of place telling where the children are playing?

Yes. It says where the playing is taking place. It's not taking place on the street, for example.

thactoad
s the phrase in both sentences also prepositional phrases?

Yes. The term prepositional phrase classifies the phrase as a pattern of certain parts of speech. The terms adjectival and adverbial classify the phrase by its function in the sentence. So you can have an adjectival prepositional phrase and an adverbial prepositional phrase.

Re: Adverb /adjective "in the garden"

sunsail — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:58:51 GMT

Hello,
The children who are in the garden. instead of this you can say the children in the garden.If you tell in this way you stress their places.

Adverb /adjective "in the garden"

thactoad — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:29:21 GMT

The children in the garden are playing football. - Is this an adjective phrase telling us more about the children?

The children are playing football in the garden. - Is this an adverb phrase of place telling where the children are playing?

However, is the phrase in both sentences also prepositional phrases?

I'm just a little confused!!!

Many thanks