'Transitive' adj , adv

About the first one, my first instinct is to answer in the affirmative and then start looking for examples among the adjectives that hover around the concept of "sufficient".   But I gotta run to church now, so I'll have to think about it first.

About the second example, though, I'm going to opine that in this sentence "rather" is not an adjective or an adverb but a verb.   I agree that it appears in other sentences as an adjective, but "I'd rather" means "I prefer".

Of course, you could argue (correctly) that in the original form of this phrase, "rather" is an adverb and "would" is not a helping verb but the verb.   Let's expand your example:

"I don't want to you to come this morning; I'd rather that you have dinner with us."

"Rather" looks like a verb here, and modern speakers think of it that way.   But you can reorder the words to make the older structure clear:

"I would not that you come this  morning; rather I would that you have dinner with us."

And if you argue (still correctly) that in that case "rather" is not a verb but an adverb, as you said in the first place, it follows that "that you have dinner with us" is the object not of "rather" but of "would".

Hmm...   While rereading the above it occurs to me that in that sentence, "rather" is not an adverb but a conjunction.   It doesn't look like a conjunction because of where it's placed in the sentence.   But there are conjunctions that don't appear directly between the two phrases they join, not only in English but in other languages as well.   In English, you can say "It's not raining outside; therefore I needn't bring an umbrella"; but you can just as well write "It's not raining outside; I needn't, therefore, bring an umbrella".   "Also" can be moved around too.

But then, maybe in a sense all conjunctions are somewhat adverbial.

Ok, now I really gotta run.

Bob Bridges said ...Of course, you could argue (correctly) that in the original form of this phrase, "rather" is an adverb and "would" is not a helping verb but the verb.

For 'would'   to be a verb all its own is a radical idea indeed, so much so I'd rather not go down that path. But then that will leave the question: what verb, if not 'would', is 'rather'   an adverb to, in'would rather that' ?

I would sidestep that question entirely and say that that whole construction is one of a kind, an idiomatic phrase   whose components cannot be analyzed into the common 'parts of speech.'   (Accordingly my initial post's question concerning 'rather' also becomes nonsensical.)

I notice that while discussions on'would rather do'   (whose syntax structure is trivial) are abundant, there are few on 'would rather that,'   as though it is somehow avoided. Whatever the reasons, I believe this usage is well established enough to be formal, a fact implicit in this note from the 'Free online Dictionary':

'...In formal style, should   is sometimes used: I should rather my daughter attended a public school...'

Robert said

For 'would'   to be a verb all its own is a radical idea indeed, so much so I'd rather not go down that path. school...'

Of course, historically, would is in fact a solo verb form, past of will, and can often be found in that archaic use of expressing a wish.

I will buy in 'I think therefore I am.'
But this would be an incomplete statement: 'I think therefore I will,' because will do what?