Saturday, December 22, 2012

grammar - Can a noun function as an adverbial?

As we know, some noun phrases can function as adverbials (especially temporal noun phrases). Here is an example taken from Wikipedia:




  • James answered this morning.



Can a single noun function as an adverbial? Nouns like "home" or "tomorrow" can function as adverbials, but they are also labelled as adverbs in many dictionaries. So we must find a "pure" noun.



If a noun with plural ending functions as an adverbial, this example can be regarded as a convincing example. (Except some special "plurals", for example "Sundays", which are labelled as adverbs in dictionaries)

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