In Noun phrases^x, Adverbs^x, Constructions^x

When looking up tricky constructions or words, one can often go to the dictionary to view its proper usage. For example, www.dictionary.com shows this definition and usage note for nor: 1. (used in negative phrases, esp. after neither, to introduce the second member in a series, or any subsequent...

When an adverb is used to modify the whole sentence, as in " Fortunately , we’re all okay," it’s used absolutely. Fortunately modifies the whole sentence. It's equivalent to say " It’s fortunate that we’re all okay ." ++++++ The question to ask is what does the infinitive modify? Does it...

"33.6 Though the relative and interrogative pronouns and adverbs beginning with wh are identical in form, it is possible in most cases to tell whether a clause is relative or interrogative. What is relative in 'I insist on paying what it has cost,' but interrogative in 'I insist on knowing...

Thanks for your replies! I can see this is an area of debate. Well, now I understand that appositives aren't necessarily nouns or noun phrases. The adjective appositive seems to make sense, but I think the so-called "adverb appositive" is an incorrect term. After all, an appositive renames or...

"I've come across the term "adjective appositive" and "adverb appositive" a few times, and I'm just wondering if this is widely-used. Is it an incorrect description of a construction that should be called something else? I'm asking this because I always see appositives defined as nouns (or noun...

I've come across the term "adjective appositive" and "adverb appositive" a few times, and I'm just wondering if this is widely-used. Is it an incorrect description of a construction that should be called something else? I'm asking this because I always see appositives defined as nouns (or noun...

What is the word sucks in " Homework sucks " ? Is it a verb or an adjective? If it is a verb, what does homework suck? This brings up an excellent point, and a wonderful opportunity to discover the beautiful syntactic structure of the English language. The question at hand is " Does an English...

And hello yet again, Hela! In the sentences in your first post there is only one adjective phrase: "very little", in sentence # 3. An adjective phrase is a construction that has an adjective as its "head" (the most important word. In "very little", "little" is the head -it's an adjective-...

Hello I was taught in school we should not use "different than". But now I am getting inclined to believe "different than" is not so bad. I feel "different than" is more versatile in use than "different from" because the latter should be followed by a noun phrase. OED says about this...

Hi, this is my first post to the group. I’ve just pasted information from Pocket Fowler's Modern English Usage. To be quite frank, I don’t really understand these definitions fully but I hope the information is useful to you. So, regarding the words 1 Than 2 that 1 Than is normally used to...