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Ferdie Formanes
04-29-2009, 06:53 AM
If I had a bigger house, I would invite my friends over.

Can someone tell me the meaning of over in the above sentence. Thanks a lot for your help.
Marius Hancu
04-29-2009, 07:10 AM
It really means
over here (in this place)
thus space advebial.
Pete
04-29-2009, 07:20 AM
If I had a bigger house, I would invite my friends over.

Can someone tell me the meaning of over in the above sentence. Thanks a lot for your help.
I'd say that "invite {someone} over" is a phrasal verb (related to another phrasal verb, "come over") that means to invite someone to come for a visit at the place where you live (or possibly the place where you currently are).
Marius Hancu
04-29-2009, 07:27 AM
Pete is right, that's one view taken by many phrasal verb dictionaries. In that case, over is seen as just a particle.
Bridget
04-29-2009, 07:40 AM
In your example, Ferdie, "over" is an adverb (or adverbial particle) and forms part of the phrasal verb "come over" meaning "visit" or similar.

Here, it is a preposition:

The road goes over the mountain.
MrPedantic
04-29-2009, 02:34 PM
1. If I had a bigger house, I would invite my friends over.
"Over" in such formations has an underlying sense of "over [the intervening space]", where "over" means "across" (cf. "over the road").

So here, the implication is "from their house(s), to my house".

MrP
Bridget
04-29-2009, 11:05 PM
But what part of speech is it there, IYO, MrP?
Ferdie Formanes
05-01-2009, 09:06 PM
In your example, Ferdie, "over" is an adverb (or adverbial particle) and forms part of the phrasal verb "come over" meaning "visit" or similar.

Here, it is a preposition:

The road goes over the mountain.

Hi bridget,

Do you mean that "over" is an adverb (or adverbial particle) and also part of the phrasal verb "come over" meaning "visit" or similar.

Sorry i got a little confused.
Ferdie Formanes
05-01-2009, 09:30 PM
Pete is right, that's one view taken by many phrasal verb dictionaries. In that case, over is seen as just a particle.

Hi Marius,

May i know if what you mean by particle. Thank you.
Marius Hancu
05-02-2009, 03:06 AM
Pls look in a dictionary.
MrPedantic
05-02-2009, 03:33 AM
But what part of speech is it there, IYO, MrP?

If "invite [s.o.] over" accords with your definition of "phrasal verb", it is an adverbial particle.

Otherwise, it's an adverb.

I would tend towards the latter; "over", "to my house", etc. seem like adverbial qualifiers of "invite", and do not create a meaning that could not be inferred from the parts.

I wouldn't be outraged if someone took the opposite view, though.

MrP