Sentence Structure 22 Time Words used as adverbial adjunctsTime words are nouns or numeral-measure compounds indicating time. They may be used as subjects, objects, predicates, modifiers, headwords in a "的character: 的 pinyin: de details" structure, complements, or adverbial adjuncts. Here we pay special attention to their use as adverbial adjuncts. When used as an adverbial adjunct, time words generally come before the main element of the predicate. Example 他们word: 他们 pinyin: tāmen details今天word: 今天 pinyin: jīntiān details来character: 来 pinyin: lái details。 Anyway, when special emphasis is laid on the time words, they may be shifted before the subject to the beginning of the sentence. Example 今天word: 今天 pinyin: jīntiān details他们word: 他们 pinyin: tāmen details来character: 来 pinyin: lái details。 (emphasis on 今天word: 今天 pinyin: jīntiān details) |