Guide to Literary Terms Group

Question:

jhutchin
jhutchin
Student
College - Senior

Are locative prep phrases and ablative prep phrases grammatically different in English?

Is there a grammatical difference between, say, "he hid in the bushes" and "he hid in fear," or "...from the police?"

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Posted by jhutchin on Saturday June 20, 2009 at 8:31 PM and tagged with cases, grammar, literature, prepositional phrases.

Answers:

  1. neela
    neela Teacher
    Graduate School

    Ablative phrases indicate cause,agento, source or instrument of action.

    Locative phrases indicate or locate the place of action.

     

    Example: He went by car.  (Ablative)

    He went to school (locative)

    He hid in the bushes .(Locateive)

    He hid in fear.  (cause)

    He feared trouble from the police (source-ablative)

    There may be a doubt when the phrase indicates a source to classify. But source (which is not a location) is surely an ablative.

    Hope this helps.

     

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    Posted by neela on Saturday June 20, 2009 at 9:56 PM