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    Modification of PP
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    Adjectives and adverbs may modify adpositional phrases (PPs), provided that their meaning belongs to the same semantic category as the PPs which they are intended to modify. Two semantic categories are distinguished, as below. In addition, the comparative and superlative of semantically compatible adjectives may be used to form the comparative and superlative forms of PPs:

    • PPs of location
    • PPs of time
    • Using adjectives and adverbs for the comparative and superlative forms of PPs

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    Location

    Certain adjectives and adverbs of distance and location may be used to modify PPs of location. Adjectives which can refer to the locational notion of distance, such as naby close and hoog high may modify locational adpositional phrases, as shown in the examples below:

    1
    taamlik naby die lughawe
    rather close to the airport
    2
    naby aan die kerk
    close by the church
    close to the church.
    3
    baie hoog in die lug
    very high in the sky
    4
    nader aan die kerk as aan die lughawe
    closer to the church PTCL.SIMT to the airport

    It is not clear whether the adjective modifies the PP or whether the PP modifies the adjective. In the example immediately above, the PP is the comparative argument of the adjective, which should be impossible if the adjective is just a modifier. It is clear that both the adjective and the PP refer to location. There are also idiomatic collocations of this type:

    5
    Die hotel is net 'n klipgooi ver van die stasie.
    the hotel be.PRS just a stone.throw far from the station
    The hotel is just a stone's throw far from the station.

    The example above is one of a range of such collocations, for instance 'n katspoegie ver a cat.spit.DIM far within a spitting distance and 'n hanetreetjie ver a cock.step far a short distance.

    Locational adjectives are also found with intransitive locative adpositions. In such cases, the combination of adjective and adposition is written as one word, such as digby/naby close by:

    6
    naby / nader by / die naaste aan
    close.by / closer by / the closest to
    close by / closer by / the closest to

    Other modifiers of locational PPs are given below:

    7
    reg voor die kop
    right before the head
    straight on the head
    8
    net langs die boom
    just beside the tree

    Other types of modifiers, which are regularly found before adjectives may also be found before PP:

    9
    Hy sit halflyf in die gat.
    he sits half.body in the hole
    He is sitting in the hole up to his waist.

    Temporal

    Adjectives which can refer to temporal duration such as gou soon, kort short en lank long may be used to modify PPs with a temporal dimension.

    10
    baie gou ná die verkiesing
    very soon after the election
    very soon after the elections had been completed
    11
    lank ná sy foonoproep
    long after his telephone.call
    long after his telephone call.
    12
    sommer kort voor die wedstryd
    just short before the match
    immediately before the match
    13
    net mooi aan die begin
    just nicely at the beginning
    right at the beginning
    14
    juis gedurende die vertoning
    exactly during the performance

    Using adjectives and adverbs for the comparative and superlative forms of PPs

    Adjectival adverbs may be used to form comparative and superlative forms of predicative PPs. This is reminiscent of the comparative and superlative pairs nader by closer by and die naaste aan the closest to discussed elsewhere in this section. These also consist of two elements, where the adjectival modifier seems to carry the comparative and superlative morpheme which signals the (semantic) comparative and superlative degree of the pair as a whole. Consider the following examples:

    15
    Hy is gou op sy perdjie.
    he be.PRS quickly on his little.horse
    he is quickly getting on his high horse. (= touchy)
    16
    Sy is gou·er op haar perdjie as vroeër.
    she be.PRS quickly·CMPR on her little.horse PTCL.SIMT earlier
    She is getting touchy more quickly than before.
    17
    Gert is die gou·ste op sy perdjie.
    Gert be.PRS the quick·SUPL on his little.horse
    Gert is getting touchy the most quickly.

    Such PPs may be modified by adverbs such as baie very and heeltemal completely:

    18
    Ná sy ervaring is hy heeltemal van sy wysie af.
    after his experience be.PRS he completely from his tune off
    After his experience, he is completely off his rocker.
    References
      About this article
      Author(s): Ernst Kotzé, Adri Breed
      Category: Afrikaans Syntax
      Keywords: PP of locationPP of timecomparative and superlative forms of PPslocationtemporal dimensioncomparativesuperlative
      Version: 1.0, May 2020
      Version history:
      version editor(s) date remarks
      1.0 Ernst Kotzé, Adri Breed May 2020
      This is a beta version.
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