Dear Rett, Brian and friends,

yes, I agree with Rett. Grammatically it sounds right, but it becomes
confusing if allowed both ways. There's where syntax applies.


metta,
Yong Peng

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, rett wrote:
>> English: The uncle, with his friends, sees recluses from the
mountains.
>> Pali: Maatulo mittehi saha pabbatehi sama.ne passati.
>> When I did the exercise I had the last two nouns (ablative and
accusative) reversed in order: (Maatulo mittehi saha sama.ne
pabbatehi passati.)
>> Can anyone tell me how in this instance that the
ablative 'pabbatehi'means that the recluses are from the mountains,
rather than the uncle and his friends? I guessed that word order
would indicate this, butfrom the answer key it looks like I guessed
wrong.


>I'm pretty sure that the meaning is the same either way. The
ablative should function adverbially, not as an adjectival attribute
of the monks. If you wanted it to mean the monks were from the
mountains you'd need something like "pabbatehi aagate sama.ne", or
you could try something like "pabbatavasanto sama.ne".