sentence analysis: I like reading non-fiction books out of order.

[GISTE]

Analyzing this sentence:

https://fallibleideas.com/grammar

> I like reading non-fiction books out of order.

There is only 1 clause.

Verb(action): like

Subject: I

Object phrase: reading non-fiction books out of order.

“Reading” is a gerund. It is the object of “like”.

“Non-fiction” is an adjective modifying “books”.

“Books” is the object of “reading”.

“Out of order”. I’m not sure what to do with this.

I looked up “out” and “out of order” in apple dictionary. “Out
of order”, in this sentence, means “not in the correct sequence”.
I’ll use this as a replacement and analyze the sentence. “I like
reading non-fiction books [not in the correct sequence].”

It is a prepositional phrase. A simpler preposition I could use to
analyze a similar sentence is “in order”. So: “I like reading
non-fiction books in order.”

But “out of order” is more complicated. I see 2 prepositions.

I looked up “out” again in apple dictionary. It says:

> The use of out as a preposition (rather than the standard
> prepositional phrase out of), as in he threw it out the window, is
> common in informal contexts, and is standard in American, Australian,
> and New Zealand English. Traditionalists do not accept it as part of
> standard British English, however.

I also googled: grammar analysis of “out of order”. There were 2
links that I reviewed but they only gave example sentences and meanings
rather than grammar analysis.

Finally I searched for other people’s analysis of this sentence here
on FI email list. I found Justin’s analysis - subject: “[FI]
[grammar] English Language, Analysis and Grammar”:

> “out” is an adverb modifying “reading.”
>
> “of order” is an adverbial prepositional phrase describing what
> we’re out of.
> preposition: of.
> object: order.

What is “order” the object of?

I thought prepositional phrases have a preposition and a noun that the
preposition governs. I googled “does a prepositional phrase have an
object?”. I found that it does. So I guess that in all the cases that
I said that a preposition governs a noun, that noun is an object.

-- GISTE

[Anne B]

On Fri, Jul 26, 2019 at 9:20 AM GISTE
cuz.good.is.str...@gmail.com [fallible-ideas]

Here's my analysis. I too had trouble with the "out of order" part.
The rest of my analysis is the same as yours.

I did not think to search the FI list and I should have. I had
forgotten that anyone else analyzed these sentences already.

After reading what you and Justin wrote, I still like my
interpretation of "out of order" being a prepositional phrase with
"out of" being the preposition and "order" being the noun/object of
the prepositional phrase.

Action verb: “like”

Subject: “I”

Direct object phrase: “reading non-fiction books out of order”. The
main word in the phrase is the gerund “reading”. “books” is the direct
object of “reading”.

Modifiers:

“non-fiction” is an adjective that modifies “books”. It answers the
question “what kind of books?”

“out of order” is a phrase that functions as an adverb and modifies
“reading”. It answers the question “reading how?” I'm not sure what
kind of phrase it is. It could be a prepositional phrase with “out of”
being the preposition. Or something else could be going on. I looked
up “out”, “out of order”, and “out of order grammar”. I didn't find
anything that helped with the grammar here.

[anonymous FI]

On Jul 26, 2019, at 6:20 AM, GISTE
cuz.good.is.str...@gmail.com [fallible-ideas]

Justin, in cases like this I think you should say what definition of
"out" you're using. The definition matters because it's not obvious what
"reading out" would mean. If "out" is an adverb, then "reading out"
should have a coherent meaning even without considering the
prepositional phrase. And it has to be a meaning that the "of order"
modifier works well with, too.

I found a meaning that works OK in Webster's third: 2c: "beyond the
usual or proper limits".

What kind of limits? The limits of order. So the prepositional phrase
works well with that.

>> “of order” is an adverbial prepositional phrase describing what
>> we’re out of.
>> preposition: of.
>> object: order.
>
> What is “order” the object of?
>
> I thought prepositional phrases have a preposition and a noun that the
> preposition governs. I googled “does a prepositional phrase have an
> object?”. I found that it does. So I guess that in all the cases
> that
> I said that a preposition governs a noun, that noun is an object.

See:

https://fallibleideas.com/grammar

> A prepositional phrase is a type of modifier. It consists of a
> preposition, a noun (called the “prepositional object”) and,
> optionally, other modifiers.

[Elliot Temple]

Looking in more dictionaries helps. In Webster’s Third I found “out of” as a preposition with meaning 2b: "used as a function word to indicate a quality or state that is not normal, usual, or correct”. That works fine.



Elliot Temple
www.fallibleideas.com