1

Would you tell me the reason why native speakers often say store nearby instead of nearby store?

There is no store nearby.
There is no nearby store.

One of my friends gave me this answer:

I would naturally use "There is no store nearby / There is no nearby store" in this sort of context:

A: Did you go to the nearby store?
B: There is no nearby store.

Speaker A is presupposing that there is a nearby store.
Speaker B is denying that presupposition.

But I don't understand yet.

1 Answer 1

1

The two sentences have slightly different grammatical structure. "Nearby" can be either an adjective or an adverb. In the first sentence, "nearby" is adverb, modifying the verb "is". In the second sentence, "nearby" is an adjective describing the store. This changes the meaning of the two slightly. Saying "nearby store" like in the second sentence makes the sentence about that store that is nearby, rather than an undescribed store, like in the first sentence.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .