Timeline for Why is the determiner after the verb in "We were both tired" and "We have both seen the movie"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
8 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Feb 10, 2021 at 10:07 | comment | added | bak1936 | @BillJ thanks for your answer. | |
| Feb 9, 2021 at 8:12 | comment | added | BillJ | @bak1936 Yes, most dictionaries use the function term 'determiner' instead of the category term 'determinative'. The important thing to grasp here is that in We were both tired "both" functions not as a determiner but as an adjunct. By contrast, in Both men were tired it does function as a determiner. Can you see the difference? | |
| Feb 8, 2021 at 23:44 | comment | added | bak1936 | @Billj according to oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/both?q=both, the part of speech of 'both' is determiner. | |
| Feb 8, 2021 at 15:27 | comment | added | Patriot | I see your point. Good! | |
| Feb 8, 2021 at 15:15 | comment | added | BillJ | That's true. Incidentally, notice the slight spelling difference between the part of speech 'determinative' and the function 'determiner'. | |
| Feb 8, 2021 at 15:10 | comment | added | Patriot | @BillJ Right! This is the usual story about English words: they are complex. | |
| Feb 8, 2021 at 15:03 | comment | added | BillJ | Oh dear! "Both" belongs solely to the part of speech 'determinative', though it can have different functions. For example, in "Both men were tired" its function is that of determniner, and in "We were both tired" it's an optional adjunct in clause structure. | |
| Feb 8, 2021 at 13:48 | history | answered | Patriot | CC BY-SA 4.0 |