Re: Most common irregular verbs?

Hi!

caeruleancentaur <caeruleancentaur@...> writes:
>...
> >But adverbs (or adverbials) are often formed by adpostion + noun.
> >So that's quite a good reason to call it a postpostion.
>
> To me it doesn't follow that, just because an adverbial can indeed
> be formed by an adposition and noun, "ago" must be called a
> postposition because it follows a noun.  The subject under
> discussion was postposed adjectives.  It seems that adjectives also
> can follow nouns.
I admit that the 'one morning' is an adverbial, too, in many
situations, as are many other phrase.  Bad example, sorry!

> >What's the justification to call it an adjective here?
>
> My justification is, as usual, the entry in the American Heritage
> Dictionary.
>
> The Columbia Guide to Standard American English: "_Ago_ is both
> adjective, as in _The murder took place many years ago,_ and adverb,
> as in _The murder took place long ago._  It is Standard in both
> uses."
The second sentence does not match German usage of a preposition to
form an adverbial, so also forget my reasoning about German
prepositions.  The first usage, however, I'd still analyse as a
postposition.

I still find the analysis of 'ago' as an adjective quite a strange
view.  The prototypical usages of adjectives seem to be at least, if
at all grammatical, the non-typical case.

This is why I gave my examples.  I find an attributive usage like in
'the ago year' a bit strange.  Even if you define this adjective, by
exception, to be postpositional as in 'the year ago', such a phrase
remains strange.

And a predicative use as in 'the year is ago' also seems, well,
strange again. Yet typical adjectives work just like this, don't they?

Also, prototypical adjectives can be added to noun phrases to form
other noun phrases.  So I should be able to say 'I like this year
ago.' or 'I like the book ago.'  (Assuming, exceptionally, that this
adjective is postponed.  It doesn't improve much if put in front,
though.)

The dictionary entries cited above quite obviously use quite a
different view on adjectives as I do here.  I'd like to know what the
system is behind their classification.  Do they define the terms?  Can
anyone help?  Is the above common-sense or English intuition?  Why?

**Henrik

--
Relay 13 is forthcoming:
http://www.conlang.info/relay/relay13.html

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