Friday, July 28, 2006

Part determinative?

I was adding entries to the Simple English Wiktionary (good practice for English teachers and students alike), and part was the next word on my list. As I put in example sentences, it occurred to me that part was acting very much like a determinative[1]. Consider these examples:

1. It's part table and part desk.
2. Part of the money is gone.
3. I gave them $10 in part payment.

However, it doesn’t work in:
4. *Part money is missing.
5. *Part the money is missing.

which is the normal place for a determinative to work. So what do you think? Obviously, part is a noun, but is it also a determinative?

[1] The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language uses determinative for a word class, and determiner for the role in phrase structure.

2 comments:

jlundell said...

Just by way of idle observation, "half" works fine for 1,2,3,5, but not 4.

Claris said...

It seems like some of those might have been shortened from "partly" or "partial."