Timeline for Is "without" a preposition or an adverb in "She left the hotel without paying the bill"?
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13 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| May 21, 2015 at 23:09 | vote | accept | Rohit | ||
| May 21, 2015 at 23:10 | |||||
| May 21, 2015 at 16:22 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | @StoneyB: Ah, right. Here's an interesting snippet of info I just found which may be relevant to NNS. Apparently in Swedish, among other languages, the "literal" translation of He left without paying the bill uses the infinitive - effectively, He left without to pay the bill. Tricky! | |
| May 21, 2015 at 16:16 | comment | added | StoneyB on hiatus | @FumbleFingers The word without is a preposition in both cases; the function of the PP is "adjectival" in both cases. It's definitely attributive in "caller without an appointment", opinions differ about whether it's attributive or predicative with the existential there is construction. In OP's example traditional grammar would take without paying as an adverbial; I would regard it as a "secondary predication", like naked in "He sleeps naked". | |
| May 21, 2015 at 16:11 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | @StoneyB: I get that one. But without an appointment seems significantly different. Is that also prepositional, or have we now moved into adverbial territory? | |
| May 21, 2015 at 16:06 | comment | added | StoneyB on hiatus | @FumbleFingers This is why I like CGEL's treatment of these as intransitive prepositions -- you can treat the without in "a caller is without" as a locative preposition phrase just like "in the drawing room". | |
| May 21, 2015 at 15:48 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | @StoneyB: Even armed with all that, I'm none the wiser as to whether OP's without is really a preposition or an adverb. Nor do I know whether it would be the same with a (very old-fashioned) butler announcing There is a gentleman caller without, ma'am (as opposed to ...a gentleman caller without an appointment). | |
| May 21, 2015 at 15:45 | answer | added | LawrenceC | timeline score: 2 | |
| May 21, 2015 at 15:26 | comment | added | StoneyB on hiatus | @FumbleFingers It's important because many Learners (NS and NNS) are taught that prepositions employed without objects, particularly in what are called "phrasal" verbs, are adverbs, and it's not always easy for NNS to distinguish whether a given preposition in these constructions has an object or not. | |
| May 21, 2015 at 14:37 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | It's tempting to see She left without delay as "adverbial", since it answers the question How did she leave? But I honestly wonder what good it does learners to agonize over POS categories for such usages. I speak perfectly good English without knowing (or really caring). | |
| May 21, 2015 at 14:31 | comment | added | oerkelens | How is it "attached to a verb"? Just because it is positioned next to something that looks like a verb? There is essentially no big difference between without paying the bill or without her luggage. What would you say without is in without her luggage? Surely not an adjective because it is attached to a noun? | |
| May 21, 2015 at 14:29 | history | edited | starsplusplus | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
corrected the English
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| May 21, 2015 at 14:25 | review | First posts | |||
| May 21, 2015 at 14:29 | |||||
| May 21, 2015 at 14:24 | history | asked | Rohit | CC BY-SA 3.0 |