Subj : to pull the door to against
To   : Alexander Koryagin
From : Ardith Hinton
Date : Thu Jan 09 2020 23:26:08

Hi, Alexander!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

 AH>  I think the difficulty here is that "to" may be used
 AH>  either as a preposition or, less commonly, as an adverb.


          BTW... I deliberately grouped the words together as an adult native 
speaker of English might when I said:


 AH>  I pulled the door to = I shut the door

 AH>  against the rain = to prevent the rain from coming in


               Some folks get hung up
               on the idea
               that traditional grammar
               doesn't work in English,
               although it works in Latin.
               I prefer it because,
               while I find it difficult at times
               to shoehorn my thoughts
               into eight parts of speech,
               my dictionaries & my friends
               from various other countries
               use the same system.



 AK>  Well, if "to" was a preposition


          In the average English/English desk dictionary you'll probably find 
the first umpteen definitions categorized that way.  Keep going... [chuckle].



 AK>  give me an example when it is a adverb.
                                    |an


          When it is defined by reputable sources as "toward a contact point" 
&/or "in the usual or required position" and does *not* begin a prepositional 
phrase it's an adverb AFAIC.  That was my analysis of "I pulled the door to", 
but I understand it's not easy to track these things down.  :-)

          Other examples, not all of which fit the above description quite so 
neatly but which tell us the direction &/or the timing of some action:


               to and fro = back and forth
               come to = regain consciousness
               heave to (naut.) = bring or be brought to a standstill
               turn to = begin work
               wrong side to = wrong side forward


          I hope this helps....  :-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)

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