"with" in a sentence -- the "comitative case"?
What is/are the correct word order/s in sentences containing "with X" where one variant is [the subject, together with X ...]?
Here are a few examples of what I have in mind:
- I went to the cinema on Sunday with my mother.
- I went to the cinema with my mother on Sunday.
- With my mother I went to the cinema on Sunday.
- I went, with my mother, to the cinema on Sunday.
My problem is that to my non-native ears all of these sound more or less okay (although 2. is a bit weird and 4. sounds a bit archaic). So is there a rule?
I've also found that this is supposed to be called an instance of the "comitative case" but haven't found any concise rules explaining usage so far.
Solution 1:
The comitative case pertains to a relationship of accompaniment between two participants in an event, called the accompanee and the companion. Wikipedia
Your instinct re: four is correct; it does sound archaic. It's also somewhat clunky and unlikely to be spoken by a native. Three is a bit stilted, too, and probably not something you'd hear often. The most natural-sounding choices are one and two. There's a good possibility you might hear either from a native English speaker.
More to the point, however, they'd probably leave the comitative case behind and say something akin to:
My mother and I went to the movies Sunday.