Thank you for your help. I'd like to ask one more similar question as follows.

Question

Thank you for your help. I'd like to ask one more similar question as follows.

1. He bought a cake for poor children.

[In this sentence, is 'for poor children' an adjective phrase, which modifies 'cake'. Or is 'for poor children' an adverb phrase, which modifies 'bought'?]

Answer 1

Thank you for your help. I'd like to ask one more similar question as follows.

1. He bought a cake for poor children.

[In this sentence, is 'for poor children' an adjective phrase, which modifies 'cake'? Or is 'for poor children' an adverb phrase, which modifies 'bought'?]

Answer 2

In this sentence, it modifies "bought", telling why they made a purchase of whatever it is (cake, shoes, clothes, whatever they bought). In the other example, the phrase tells what kind of party. Here it tells (modifies) why they took the action to buy something. It's an adverb phrase.

In the other example, it could be restated, "They will hold a birthday party or their teacher". Both "birthday" and "for their teacher" modify PARTY. Here, to repeat, the phrase tells why they bought something. It does not describe the cake, as the other phrase tells what kind of party it will be. Am I making myself clear? I hope I am.:)

Answer 3

OK. Thank you for your explanation.

Answer 4

In the sentence "He bought a cake for poor children," the phrase "for poor children" is an adverb phrase. It modifies the verb "bought" by giving additional information about why he bought the cake. Adverb phrases typically answer questions such as "why," "when," "how," or "to what extent" and provide more details about the action or verb in the sentence. In this case, the phrase "for poor children" answers the question "for whom" and explains the intended recipients of the cake. To determine whether a phrase is an adjective phrase or an adverb phrase, it can be helpful to identify the word or part of speech that the phrase is modifying in the sentence.