"nearby" (close by) as an adjective, a preposition, or an adverb

Would you show me if there could be any potential difference semantically between the two?

Please, would you possibly take into account the bounds of possibility that the word "nearby" in the following could be an adjective, or even an adverb:

1. I live in a nearby town.



2. I live in a town nearby.

Furthermore, what is the difference between these following pairs semantically, being distinguish between adjective, preposition or even an adverb.

First pair:

A) I sometimes meet friends in a nearby restaurant.

B) I sometimes meet friends in a restaurant nearby.

Second pair:

C) I ran to the telephone box nearby to call an ambulance.

D) I ran to the nearby telephone box to call an ambulance.

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UPDATED:

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  First off, thanks all for your invaluable concerns as to problems. However, my most problem is about discerning between being an adjective or an adverb, not comparing them just as an adjective.

  
  



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  Second, my more specific problem is that if we distinct them as once an adjective and next an adverb what different meaning could be caused? (Such as the sentences above.)

  
  

UPDATED:And, would this one be incorrect?I hope to visit you in your near home. [near cannot be used before a noun to refer to distance] ........

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Edited: This part of answer has been prosed by one of the dear members, However, I failed to get it. Could you tell me more about it in a more readily way?

SEMANTICS:: the relationship of "nearness()"

Many locational prepositions have an associated semantic relationship that takes two arguments. Usually both arguments can be locations, or one is a location and the other is a situation. For instance:

The tree is near/nearby the river. In that above example, there is the relationship of "nearness()" that involves the two arguments "the tree" and "the river". That is:

nearness( the tree, the river ) <-- semantic relation Many times one of the arguments can be covert (that is, implied or understood from context). E.g.

Go near/nearby the river.

nearness( ("you":implied), the river )

and,

The tree is near/nearby the river. nearness( the tree, ("the river":implied) ) and,

The tree is near/nearby where we are. nearness( the tree, ("where we are":implied) ) For an example where one argument can be a situation:

Tom killed a bird near/nearby the river.

nearness( Tom killed a bird, the river )

where the first argument is the situation describe by "Tom killed a bird".

Answer

Your (1) and (2) would function the same most of the time. But if I try, I think I can imagine a context where they would mean slightly different things.

(1) I'm telling someone an anecdote, about something that happened to me. I'm far from home when I tell this story. Let's say the story starts out in a town not far from my own -- let's call it Jackson. At a certain point in my story, the listener needs to know that the town where I live isn't far from Jackson. Maybe there's going to be a dramatic car ride to go pick up some item that is urgently needed in time for a concert that's going to start shortly. Let's say the item was in a suitcase that the airlines have misplaced. To explain that my town isn't far from Jackson, I say, "I live in a nearby town. So I jumped in my car and drove home as fast as I could. I grabbed my copy of the score of Beethoven's Fifth and raced back to the concert hall in Jackson, arriving just as the orchestra was tuning."

(2) Note that this sentence wouldn't work in the story about the dramatic car ride.

Moving on. In (A), "nearby" is describing "restaurant;" since "restaurant" is a noun, "nearby" functions as an adjective in this sentence. In (B), "nearby" tells us where you live. Therefore it functions as an adverb in this sentence.

(C): adverb; (D): adjective; same analysis as for (A) and (B).

To get better at distinguishing between adjectives and adverbs, I recommend that you start by practicing with simple sentences. Use a different symbol to indicate each one -- for example, circle the adjectives, and underline the adverbs. You could even use different colors. BUT before you do that, you should get completely solid on identifying NOUNS and VERBS. When you can do that comfortably and easily, the adjectives and adverbs will jump off the page at you, for the most part.

Do you have a teacher who can check your exercises?