Talk:on the back burner

This is not a prepositional phrase. Like most phrases beginning with a preposition it is an adverbial phrase, specifically it is an adverbial phrase of location. At least in the literal sense. In the idiomatic sense it may well be an adjectival phrase.

This is a good example of why we shouldn't try to shoe-horn a part-of-speech label into things we're not sure about. In this case I think "Idiom" would indeed make a better label. &mdash; Hippietrail 15:59, 4 October 2005 (UTC)

Tea room discussion
I would have simply changed this to Adverb. But as it was Connel who labelled it as a Preposition, I feel I must double check. -- Algrif 16:04, 31 July 2008 (UTC)


 * Er. Surely in this form it's usually an adjective?  Ƿidsiþ 16:09, 31 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Er, I could easily be (and often am) wrong. But as this refers to a figurative "place" and not a state, I would call it an adverb. -- Algrif 16:17, 31 July 2008 (UTC)


 * Well if you say "It's on the back-burner" then it works adjectivally. But I guess if you're saying "Put it on the back-burner" you could read it adverbially.. Ƿidsiþ 16:23, 31 July 2008 (UTC)


 * So basically, I can change this from Preposition to both Adjective and Adverb, then, can I? (BTW. I like your new sig.) -- Algrif 16:44, 31 July 2008 (UTC)


 * I would say so too, though I wonder if back burner would be a better place for this, since I've encountered "to the back burner" before. I think back burner is the real idiom here. --EncycloPetey 17:39, 31 July 2008 (UTC)
 * I agree. Ƿidsiþ 17:56, 31 July 2008 (UTC)


 * There are lots (>700 raw b.g.c. hits) of uses of back burner and backburner and back-burner without "on", most in the idiomatic sense. But there are >1100 for "on the back burner". Some other dictionaries have "back burner", some "on the back burner". We could have both. DCDuring TALK 15:24, 1 August 2008 (UTC)