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Periodicals Department :Johnson Camden Librar· Morehead State Unlver.stcy Volume VIII, Numbers 1 and 2
Frances Turner ''Relative Intelle ctual Power in the Poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley and John Keats As Determined by the Rel- ative Positions and Classes of Adjectives''
Although each of the two, Shelley and Keats, lived and wrote dur- ing the English Literary Romantic Period, and although each, to- gether with Lord Byron, constituted the second generation of Eng- lish Romantic poets in.nineteenth century English literature, it is believed that each varied in his poetic art in appealing to the personality of the reader. That is, the expressive na~ ture of the aesthetic object as written by Byron, Keats, and Shelley appears to differ with respect to intellectual force.
Lord Byron's poetry is omitted from consideration in this article bee ause of the satiric-romantic structure of his poetry and because of the necessity to limit the scope and length of the monograph. The poetry of Keats and that of Shelley, written at the same time when the poets were enjoying relatively the same age while writing, are better subjects for comparison. The spirit of their age was essentially a romantic one, While there are always writers holding back the advance of the spirit and while there are always writers--during the dominant spirit of the ages--looking forward to the next age, Keats and Shelley and their art remained and remain in one central direction-- the romantic one.
Is it correct to assert that Shelley's art is more intellectual- ized than the art of Keats? If it is correct, t~ere may well be objective methods for determining relative intellectualiza- ~ion. For example, one could assess the relative incidence of balanced, clausal, and phrasal statements in terms of adjectives-- nouns--and verbs, as was done by Josephine Hiles. Or, one can assess the numbers and positions of Latinate verbs in terms of prefixes and suffixes. Or, there can be more shifting of ad- verbs to the left, with a resultant decrease of emotive impact.
The position taken here is that it is better to assess the nature and scope of adjectives than to use the multi-part-of - speech approach. Adjectives can be divided into different sub- classes with respect to the kind and position to the left of the noun. For the purpos• of this paper, fourteen classes of adjectives are defined: the proper adjective, the adjective of touch, the adje~tive of smell, the adjective of taste, the adjec- tiv~ of color, the adjective of shape, the adjective of age, the adjective of location, the adjective of climate, the adjective of ~alance, the adjective of motion, the adjective of size, the adjective of value, and the adjective derived from verbs.
VIII--1,2 2
In assessing adjectives found in the prenominal position as to subclass and frequency, it is best to use poems chosen by random from the art of Keats and Shelley. They are used to the extent of having some fourteen hundred lines (1400) by each of the two poets.
The following poems by Keats vere selected by random sampling: "Isabella," "Ode to a Nightingale", "Lamia", "The Eve of St. Agnes", "O Solitude! If I !1ust With TheeDwell", "How l1any Bards Gild the Lapses of Time'' and ''To One Who Has Been Long in City Pent," The following poems by Shelley were selected by random sampling: "Alas tor", "Adona is 11 , "The Cloud", and "To A Skylark". These poems are analyzed as to the frequency and positioning of adjectives.
As to Keats' poetry, the total number of adjectivals and their subclasses and positions in 1400 lines of poetry are considered for the relative emotive or intellectual force as revealed by the use of adjectivals:
Subclasses of adjectivals
Verb • Value. Size • Motion Balance. Climate. Location Age. Shape. Color. Taste. Smell. Touch. Proper
50 46 l 40 62 56 65 166 29 6 55 28 1260
Dumber of lines: 1404 Number of adjectivals: 1260
The adjectivals labelled touch, taste, shape, age, location, size, and climate place emphasis on the natural or physical world of things. The ideas of shape, location, climate and size seem to point to the poet's concern with sensory elements, a need to confirm his own existence by duplicating in his art the conditions of the world of nature. The fifty-five adjec- tives in the touch category continue the notion of the poet's affinity with the sensory.world.
Perhaps the fifty-six adjectivals dealing with age are an extension of Keats' emotive states when he considers the sen- sory objects about him as a ~eans of arriving at value judgments.
Volume Vlll Numbers 1,2 (^4)
Five hundred and sixty adjectivals are classified in cate- gories other than verb derivatives or value. An indication of the poet's c~ncern with the sensory, the world of things, is evidenced by the fifty-nine references to size, forty-two to motion, forty-seven to climate, fifty-one to location, sixty- five to shape, thirty-seven to touch, and twenty-two to age. Shelley's sensitivity to the natural world is suggested by the 206 color adjectivals. Although color is sometimes inter- preted as symbolism, many of Shelley's color adjectivals are descriptive of physical phenomena, others are used as motifs to establish mood or setting. The number of size, location, shape, and climate adjectivals seems to indicate an interest in establishing boundaries for an idea or for a place.
The ideas of mentally searching, evaluating, rejecting, or accepting, are presented by the value adjectivals. With these the poet moves to an area of speculation, or abstraction, and of value judgments. The 414 words carrying intellectual conno- tations place Shelley in the sphere of philosophy where there are many questions but few, if any, definite answers.
However, when the positions of the adjectivals are reviewed,a question arises as to the small 'number of nounals standing to the right of the nounal. As the right of the nounal positions slows the speed of the sentence and thus tends to give intellec- tual force, Shelley's avoidance of the adjectival for that pur- pose seems to point ~o his use of emotive force to carry his ideas into the realm of reasoning. Here is the motion of balance between the senses, the emotions, and the mind.
However, the difference in adjectivals to the right of the nounals is not so great in the art of one with respect to the other to be able to make any determination on that score as to a greater intellectualization.
In the total number of adjectivals used in the lines studied, the disparity of six per cent in the totals for Keats indicates some real difference in the two poets' usage of adjectivals as to quantity. Shelley's 1336 as contrasted with Keats' 1260 is worthy of comment since more nouns are marked by Shelley in proportion to those marked by Keats.
When we look closely at the use of the verb subclassification in the 1400 lines of each poet, Shelley, with a total of 1336 adjectivals, uses 249 verb derivatives. Here we find a differ- ence of seventy more adjectivals in Shelley's lines, a signi- ficant difference; however, the greater number in the verb subclassification, Shelley's 362 as compared to Keats' 249, does seem to denote Shelley's consistency in choosing that particular adjectival for his purpose.
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Volume Vlll Numbers 1,2 (^5)
As the two most forceful words in our language appear to be the noun and the verb, it would appear that Shelley relied on the suggestion of strength carried~yverbs to lend vitality to his passages. Here we note a narrative tendency which is less apparent in Keats' art.
The intellectual element suggested by the value subclassification is supported by the apparent judgment which has been rendered when the poet uses the abstract to further his own ideas. The use of the term "divine'', ''spiritual'', ''true'', and other notional adjectives, implies some degree of philosophic or intellectual involvement. However, there is always the possibility of emotive reaction to be found in the same abstract words. For the pur- pose of this study, the assumption has been made that the three aspects of man's personality, the sensory, the emotive, and the mental, are all involved in each poet's work, but the probability exists that one of these three will appear as more dominant in the world of one author as compared with the other.
We note that Shelley makes use of 414 value adjectives in the 1400 lines. Keats' lines contain 407 in that category. Again, it is necessary to consider the fact that the poems used could have influenced the quantity of the adjectivals. Keats' "Isabella" having 154 adjectivals for value makes the poem emotively-charged. His "Eve of St. Agnes" contains another 117 in the value sub- classification. Here we are confronted with the problem of the value category as emotive or philosophic or even as a com- bination of both. The assumption continues that the judgment involved is based on philosophic or notional ideas as influenced by the emotions, as these adjectivals were most closely discussed earlier.
In considering the value subclassification in Shelley's art as studied, the ratio of value adjectivals in proportion to the total number is close to that found in the work of Keats. Atten- tion should now be given to the more sensory subclassifications used for this purpose, or for this paper. Keats places more emphasis on birth, age, death, and the notion of physical death than is true of Shelley. Along the same vein, Keats is more con- cerned with taste and touch than is Shelley. Keats is more con- cerned with earthly location than Shelley. Keats and Shelley have no differences as to the world of shapes.
As far as climate, motion, and size are concerned there are few differences. In Keats' art there is a marked reliance on color with respect to the physical world of concrete objects. Shelley has a numerical superiority here, but the colors for him are repeated many times, and the colors are used much more vaguely than is true of Keats and his referents.
For the most part, Keats' adjectives are used more specifically for sensorial effects by way of taste and touch and there is more emphasis on the temporal world of reality in the art of Keats. Value adjectives are nearly-balanced. However, the total usage
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Volume Vlll Nunber 3
Dr. Ruth Barnes: Language: Hhat Wa Can Do and What We Do
The subject natter is not difficult to undarstand when we talk about lanr.uaee in an overall sense. Linguists ta~l us-- 'i\n.C(&Pl';o.p.erly. do so--.• tha·t 1.i;l;_any laI?-euage there.'i"s"'·th.l\ r>o<t¥int'ial for .~of4g whatever language has to do and there is the level of achievement. Let us consider, then, what language can do and what we do do with language.
For a language to st.ay aliv~ that language nust neat all of the modes of expression and conmunication for all of the people using that language. If a language cannot meet the communicative and expressive needs people have in terms of language, then the language at any one tine must undergo certain modifications. If the gap between what the lenguaee can do and what the demands made on the language may be by way cf exceeding the potential, then the language will die,or we uill have another laneuasc or S• t of languaees,
If we look at language by way of its being 100% efficient by way of having a potential 3~~at enough to meet any demand or set of demands, then we will have to admit that if the demands of any> .o.n~<opeu·eon cannot be met in terms of the capacity ·.of the language, the langua5e will not be adequate.
What we are sayin3 here, then, is that a languafe must have a potential great enough to meet the demands of the people and great enough to meet the demands of every single individual usinp that lan~ua~e. If it does not manage to do so, then the potential most be lees~than the demands of the language~users.
It may be said that nothing in our experience is 100% efficient. Without enbarkine on the philosophical <liscussion that such an assertion should probably warrant, let us say that in the same vay that we expect a circle to circumscribe precisely 360 decrees, with every point on the circumference e'!ui-distant from a pcint called the ''center,~ we do expect, in theory,to have a languase capable of meeting all of the demands of its users-- within the context of what a languaee is supposed to meet in terms of its speakers and listeners, at least.
It is true that when we.come to the level of practical applica- tion we find a difference between mathematical certainty and physical representation, a difference between the perfection of the idea and• its concre~ representation, whether we are talking about the roundness cf douehnuts, the distance a shell .·goes from an artillery piece, stitching in sewfu3, or ~hrasing in sentences.
Language: What We Can Do and What We Do (^2)
•· · Whea we djal with the world of thines, ideas, events, institutiom; and pecple--all i~ space and tim;a-- we rnust express or col!lmunicate these elements of experience. He do so to our- selves and to others. We do so i:nperfectly. Part of the problen stems from our own per~eptual ane conceptual nature. ke think Im~~rfectly. He often fail to match o~ feelings and our thoughts in the right proportion. We misunderstand · these elements of experience when we react to them. There are many reasons why our thinkins, feelinR, and sensinr apparati do not function efficiently. We cannot pursue these avenues at this time.
We see what is not there physically, or we see what is there imperfectly. We cannot identify our feelings always. He make incorrect judgments. The whole world of our thinking, feeling, and sensing is so complex that we_cannot even list the possibilities for different emotions and beliefs and attitudes even were the identical set of physical objects present on each occasion for responding to the worl~ of experience.
Because we use language to tell ourselves or others about out thinking, feeling, and sensinp, ve cannot expect that language in itself has any self-correcting function. Language has no ability as such to chanee illusion or delusion to the exact world of fact. Language, when working efficiently in its highest sense can be reflect the total personality of its users.
Therefore, on the one level of asking language to express or communicate precisely truth of the senses, of the sense, and of the intellect we must find a gap between absolute truth--which is impossible to define--and what represents truth. ·At the very best, we can say that language can represent what people believe about Chines, ideas, evertts, institutions, or people or what they feel about these bclie§s, or, simply, what they feel.
Admitting, then, that language can only represent and that the representation will have at least the same error carried as that represented, we are forced to consider the fact that language efficiency must be judged in terms of its ability to represent the truth and error of its users.
However, it would appear that the lanouage of truth and the language of error do not differ. It is assumed here that the lexicon of any one laneuage at any one tir:re can take care of truth, truth-error, and error. Thus, it rnay well be that language always has a much greater potential for truth and error than its users.
The point of this line of fhinkino or feeling is to indicate that in theory each language can handle all forres of experience whether handled through all truth or all error, or truth-error combinations. Any individual, however, is seldom in the atea of all truth or of all error.
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Volume Vlll Number 4
Dr. L.W. Barnes ''Classifying Experience: Parts of Speech'' If education consists in ~-training one's mind to classify the stuff of experience , the best form of education is that which enables every individual to classify efficiently.
For the purposes of this paper, I~~ontiaer that experience consists iti one's reaction to people, places, things, ideas, events, and institutions in place and time. It would appear that we not only need to distinguish among these forms of experience but ·~atso _need to classify within--intra-- each kind of experience. -~
I do not urge that knowing how to classify each form of experience will make for the successful or happy life. But knowing how will lead to a more orderly or less confused mode of life. It would appear that the human personality makes the distinctions. These distinctions ar•·uad~ patent, for the most part, through language utterances.
Of course, I can draw graphic representations of the forms of experiences and of my reactions to them. However, even were I able to approach this virtually impossible task, I would still be forced to name the graphic representations. Thus language steps in to aid in making the distinctions clear to others or to one's- self~-unless the reader happens to be the one who considers that language covers up distinctions.
There are the words which separately,and collectively as to syntax, designate aspects of experience. Then there are the terms which designate classes or forms or kinds of words. Among these are the''parts of speech.''
Because we have more than one part of speech, we must consider that distinguishing among these parts of speech is necessary; for, stherwisa, it is hardly conceivable that we should make such distinctions. Now, distinctions · amo.ng· alJy;·fU'c:-ets of experience must be considered from three points of view: structure, function, and meaning. "Structurl!" refers to that "which is.""Function " refers to that which "does." "Meaning" refers to that which affects ea·ch individual in his ··:.exq1eriencingt;· it is my position that we cannot teach meaning.· We can teach structure; we can show that from one structure one or more functions may be possible. M~rining is es,sent;.itilly and inevitably derived from str·u::ture We can consider examples of the distinction between structure and function.
The /-ing/ affix in English indicates that the word is structur11·U!~'!W a verb. Let us look at the following senterices:
Classifying Experience: Parts of Speech 2
In (^) a-. In b^ ,·
In ·:·.c •
a. Fishing is enjoyable. b. He is riding a grey. horse. c. My trip to King's Island was very exciting.
''Fishing'' is a verb by structure end a.noun by function. ,"riding" is a verb by structure and a verb by function. ''exciting'' is a verb by structure and an adjective by function.
We can Us• symbol~ tb~iid us. We can let "f'' stand for ''function'' and "s'' stand for structure. We would then have the designations:
Fishing Vs' i:!f
riding Vs' Vf
exciting V:s Adj.f
When we come to meaning, we have a more difficult task. We go to a good dictionary to ascertain the range of all possible meanings that are not current slang. However, ve cannot tell from the dictionary what meaning is evidenced in any particular sentence or utterance. We tell from the contextual situation.
We can actually be engaged in ·"fishing" for fish. "fishing" for a compliment.
We can be
In a sentence such as ''Ile .;1as riding me," "riding" is a verb by structure and a verb by function. However the meaning is not the same as for !lentence b. In the second sentence, "riding" refers to '"plaguing" .or "tormenting."
In the sentence " He is exciting,'' we have a problem. We need to discover whether the subject ''He'' is one who may be viewed as an ''exciting'' personality or whether the subject ''Re'' is exciting someone or something. We would have to go to a larger context, one including· what went bt<fore, We have here an example which indicates that a sentence is not always enough; sometimes we may need a paragraph for meaning.
It is easier, we believe, to commence with "structure." We then go to "function." There is only one structure for each form, but more than one function. If we are careful to follow the sequence S-F-M, or structure-function-meaning, our students will be able to classify experience rather well.
We can take thr:ee more sentences for - lllustrac·i<>n.
d. Wednesday is my best day. e. Be will come Wednesday. f. He will be here Wednesday.
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Editor: Dr. L. W. Barnes (^) Volume Vlll No. 5
Classifying Parts of Speech: The Noun
Preli~j;:na:ry Nates
'Periodicals Department · :Johnson Camden' Library Morehead State University
In order to kiiep our think:!.ng and its expressions oore precise, let us agree to observe the significance of the affix /-al/. "Nounal" will refer to any term "used as'" a noun."
"Adverbial" will ce::::ry the l!rnaning of "used as an adverb." ''Adjectival'' will refer ·to ''used as an adjective.'' ll!kev!se, "•prepositioitt:1l'l1·.w.1·1: ref.:i:::·to that "used as a preposition." We will designcte any term used as an article to be a "behart'; as one ''bct~ving like an article.''
We have a bit of a problem with the term"verbal." We have become used to having the term "verbals" refer to a:erbs used as · · ~" !!"-''' other parts of speech through the designat:i.ons of "infinitive," ''.participal," or "gerund • 11 In other instances cited, /-al/ has designated ''used Rs.'' In order to avoid confusion and in order to run into the difficulty in trying to eliminate tae common understanding of "verbal," we shall use "verbial" to refer to any expression used as a verb,
The Noun
We must stress the fact that we are not going to define a noun by showing how bouns can be formed by nouns and other parts of speech. We can add /-er/ t? a verb to get a noun, as in baker, adviser, · or. singer, .Ho.~e.v,er, that is not the sa.me as giving the overall structural desfgb.'ntion for all nouns.
It is true that a noun is the name of a ''person,'' ''place,n or "thing." However, there are nouns which are not covered by ·--the terms "person," "•place," or "thing." There is the tendency to C:onside_r that. eve'rything not included as "person." or "place" must be "thing,._." Such a posit.ion is hopeless and bad. To be a "thing" that referred to 1'.lUst have mass ;,.occupy·.. ,.. space7'and':~~ l?·e...subj ec t to :£'he pul.l "Of gravity.' ·T·l'le f olilo~ring 't'ouns cannot be taken care of by the world of "persons," "places," or "things'.':
denoc·racy kindness viciousness
energy time love
In fact, no virtue or vice can be handled through the definit:Lon of "person," "place," or "thing." Sane gram:1arians have recognized the proble~ and have viewed the noun as the /part of^ speech^ which^ cari^ be^ viewed^ in^ terms^ of^ the^ singular,
Classifying Parts of Speech: The Noun 2
the possessive, the plural, and the plural +possessive, But such words as ''decision'' and ''advice'' do not fit into the scheme represented by
boy chair
boy's chair's
boys chairs
boys' chairs'
Furthermore, some plurals are not made by affixes: men~ mice, deer, or geese.
Now, it is claimed by some gr'ammarians--Hulon Willis for one-- that by using noun-forming derivational suffix.es, "Noun * identification by form , however, is vver 99 percent successful,''
Now, what is the problem with accepting a'99% successful identification1 The problem is that we need a 100% ,, identification. de-fiiiitiO.ti. .•. Even though the 99% does seeo impressive, and is impressive, the 1% not coverad contains a substantial number of words. Who is to say that an individual might not face this 1% in a test or situation at any one time
We look, then, to some definition which will cover all cases. Let us say that any word which answers the questions morel fewer? or less? will be a noun or a pronoun Whan_ ;1e ap (^11 1 )
this .. ,t.ent., we can then t;a·ke care of all cases such as virtues
or vices represented by such words as
viciousness - io.ndness justice beauty mercy evil
love hat:eed f·i;.iend {cie morbidity joy
We can also take care of such terms as mice, deer, geese, derision, decision, concentration, Constitution -~among other such terms. The definition certainly takes care of the word "time." We stress the fact that we are defining in terms of forms "structured" to answer the questions "more," "fewer," or (^11) less. 11
Rulon Willis, Modern Descriptive English Grammar, San Francisco, Chandler, 1972, xviii, 378 pp., p. 7.
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Editor: Dr. L. U. Barnes Dr.L.H. Barnes
Volume 8 Number 6
Classifying Parts of Speech: (^) Noun, Pronoun, and Verb
If a word meets the tests 0£ more? fewer? or less? we have a noun or a pronoun by structure. If the word takes a determiner before it, we have a noun; if no determiner, then a pronoun.
In our previous issue, we consider : that nouns may be broken down into proper nouns, mass nouns and count nouns. It pays to consider each particuiar case. What is a count noun at one point may be a mass noun at another point. Consider the two following sentences:
He ate his toast. They ·drank a toast.
We might note the same parallel in the two following sentences:
It would some are It is an for each
The air is s~i~Dlating. He had an air of confidence.
appear, then, that some nouns am purely count noons; purely mass nouns; others are both count and mass. excellent and rewarding exercise to determine the case noun.
Even more interesting and rewarding is the strong possibility that where a noun --as air-- can be both count and mass, the non-physical sense is more literary or idiomatic. We now take another look at the pronouns.
NQwi when we talk abdut more? fewer? or less? we are simply saying that we can measure or vary •. Thus, we can do the same with pronouns. We have more or fewer 11 we's~ for example. The same is true with "someone" and "something." These pronouns can substitute for about any noun--an example of the Pro-!l an.d Pro-N rule. This rule asserts, always, that we can substitute "some" for any other determiner and we cen substitute "thing'; "body," "one" or place" for the noun·. Of course, t.;re can use 11 any," or :'every 11 instead of 11 sorne.u
Jack iscmj stud~nt. Someone is something.
He will go to Morehead.
. Somepne will go somewhere, Now, we can have different kinds of .p·ronou·ns. However, each meets the same test(s) we have cited. Whether we talk about personal pronouns, definite pronouns~ indefinite pronouns, relative pronouns, or reflexive pronouns, our first task is that
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Classifying Parts of Speech: Nouns, Pronouns, and .··verbs (^2)
of locating the pronoun, as such. It is interesting to note that ':'someone" can substitute for a .noun ·9r for. another pronoun.
He will be here. Someone will be here. We have the relative pronouns who, whom, whose, which, that, whomever and whichever. It can be seen that these terms meet the t~'.sts ue have been citing or using. It is important to stress the fact that the identification in terms of structure should be mastered before going to function, for we have more than one function.
We might say at this point that how a word fnnctions depends on the position the word fills in the sentence. English sentences in basic or kernel form have three required positions and one optional position. The three required positions are those of subject, verb, and verb completer. The fourth or optional position is for the adverbial.
The followine pronouns may be listed as indefinite pronouns, if the division is considered essential. Since these pronouns are the ones which pose the greatest· numll·er of problems, the reader may apply the pronoun test to each, or have the students master the application of the test(s) for a pronoun to these. Remember, the first test is that of meeting a test which incluc.les both nouns and pronouns. Then the second test, for the pronoun specifically, is that which tests to ensure that no determiner can ba placed before the word we assess (^) a pronoun:
one (^) anyone another notniing everyone any other other someone no other some no one less none (^) anybody much more everybody (^) either most something neither much nobody (^) several many (^) anytl1inr both f eir (^) each other each one each other
When we move to consider function, we can find, descriptively, what roles these can play. For example, deomstrative pronouns-- this, that , these, and those-- can function as determiners, or they can stand for the whole idea in a clause, or they can be noun substitutes. What can be done with a part of speech should he discovered and classified by the student. Finally, let us consider, again, the verb structurally.
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Vohm1e VIII, Number:'1 1 'i?,C/ (1)
The Parts of Speech: The Preposition
The structural identification of the· preposition is not
a simple matter; the functional deflinition(s) is not an easy
matter. Eowever, in our thesis of moving from structure to
function, it is essential to define this part of speech
structurally.
Many of the. words that are indicated as prepositions also
seem to fit the categIDry of the adverb.
It would appear that the preposition connects part of a
sentence with a word group that follows the preposition.
It is a matter of record and experience that we suggest that
a preposition is followed by a noun or nounal. We have such
instances as
through the .:w-0ods
to Boston
under the skies
around. the bend
in this nlace
Defore the battle.
The underlined words are nreuos1 tions, The wor<ls "woods,"
"Boston ' " "skies .J " ''bend I i. ,,.;_lacep J " and- , "battle" are nouns
or nounals called. the object of the preposition.
If we consider NP
the subject of a sentence, a verb compiJ.et~'n:':
foA"":}'{b , or a verb completer for the linking verb, or the
copulative verb, or the state~of-being verb, or the whole-part
verb, and ·if we consider HP~ to be the_direct object ·Of;:•
a transitive verb, and if we con~ider NP.:> to be the indirect
object, then we can consider NP to be the object of a
preposition.
However, we can also have the preposition "to" before a verb
form to have the infinitive as in '· to run." From a functional
point of view, then, we can have a preposition befIDre a
noun or nounal and we can have the ]Jreposition "to,. before
a verb ·form to have the infini ti.Ve:
Then, as if these two instances were not enough, we can have
a preposition as a part· of a verb in "He turned on the
faucet." Here '·faucet" is t"he direct object of "turnec1 on,"
Further, we can say that "He turned the faucet on .. " Here,
·'on'· as condi. tion or location occupies the fourtli. position or
the adverbial uosition in a basic or kernel statement.
Since moving "on'· to the beginning of t~e sentence c!oes not
slow the speed of the sentence, then 'on; is not an adverb,
although it may take the positio_n of the adverb. It would
appear that the preposition can occupy' the adverbial pssition
".'.'!+ +hci. on'r1 --f'n11-rt'h nn~itinn--in a sentence.
Volume VIII No: Prepositions 2
Reviewing, we find that the preposition is followed by a
noun or nounal in a prepositional phrase, We also find that
a preposition before the verb form makes the infinitive.
Then we find that a prepasition can be a part of a verb. Then.
a preposition can occur at the end of a sentence. The. ,.
preposition fills several roles then, art in other word"s,.
fhe preposition has several functions,
Prepositional phrases can be 'found in more than the terminal
position in a sentence. We can have such a sentence as
Down the road they came.
We can have such a statement as
My first few friends in the committee should have
some influence,
Here the preposition occurs to the right of the subject, but
before the verb.
Then we can have a preposition before a prepositional phrase,
as in
Those first few old maids up in the attic were
looking over the old love letters.
Here· we are interested in the .!:!£. before the prepositional
phrase in the attic.
We can also have prepositional utterances between the verb
and the verb completer, as in the example
These true soldiers could have taken, in my opinion,
more loot from the civilians;
Whether the preposition acts as an adverb or as a preposition
is not important. A preposition behaving as an adverb is
still a preposition. In the sentence
" Her friends down in the valley came to see her."
Down f111ctions as an adverb, but is a preposition,
Lowery (this is grammar-1965) states that
"The word "to'' when followed by the base form of a verb or by a
verb phrase (to jump, to be jumped, to have jumped) is not a
preposition, It is a part of a verb .cortstruction.~alled an
1
"infinitive^1! In such nositions "to" is similar in function to an
'inflection." •
This statement cannot be correct. ;'To" by structure is a
preposition, or it is not a preposition. If it is a preposition,
it is so for all time. Now, what "ta"· may function as, or what
any other preposition may function as may be other matters.
