Frontierele dintre complementele prepoziţionale şi circumstanţiale în sintaxa limbii engleze
Boundaries between Prepositional Objects and Adverbials in English Syntax

Summary/Abstract: Undergraduates still make mistakes when analysing the Prepositional Objects and the Adverbials in English and Romanian syntax. The central theoretical proposal developed in the study draws on Chomsky’s government and binding approach to syntax, on Burton-Roberts’s view upon optionality and ellipsis, and on Palmer’s and Cornilescu’s perspective on thematic roles. The paper aims to identify the similarities and differences between the two syntactic constituents and to provide several formulae for testing the constructions. We claim, therefore, that optionality, passivization, Tough Movement and thematic role assignment represent suitable linguistic means for distinguishing between the Prepositional Objects and the Adverbials.

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