Summary Details
| Query: |
Pronoun Ellipsis
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| Author: | Sadao Ando | |
| Submitter Email: | click here to access email | |
| Linguistic LingField(s): |
Syntax
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| Summary: |
Many thanks to those who have kindly offered their opinions to my question. Now I'm inclined to think this way: (1) This problem is too abstract for Bill to solve. (2) This problem is too abstract for Bill to solve it. Lasnik and Fiengo(1974) say that (1) derives from (3) and (2) from (4). (3) To solve this problem is too abstract for[prep] Bill. (4) For[Comp] Bill to solve this problem is too abstract. And Jespersen(MEGIII: p.218)states that after 'too' it is allowable to have and to omit 'it': that idea is too subtle for them to understand (it). The longer the construction, the more necessary it will be to add the pronoun: this wood is too hard for for me to attempt to pierce it. Despite their opinions, I still think sentences of the type (1) are by far the more common, for empirically, out of over twenty examples of this type retrieved from the BNC none are found with object pronoun, and theoretically, since the subject in this type of sentences acts as "implicit object"(as OED names it) of the infinitive, it will be redundant to add a pronoun. In other words, AP indirectly modifies the subjet(i.e. this problem is abstract). I will admitt, however, that in conversational English the pronoun might well appear. On the other hand, sentences of the type (5) normally require a pronoun, I assume: (5) a. He ran too quickly for me to catch him. (Hornby, Patterns and Usage) b. He was too near for me to avoid him. (Curme, Syntax p.308) The reason is that these advPs(quickly and near) do not modify the subject but the predicate verb; that is, they are manner adverbs modifying the manner of motion and rest;in other words, the infinitive can't retroactively refer to the subject, which can't act as "implicit subject", hence the need for an object pronoun. Sadao ANDO Emeritus Professor of English Linguistics at Hiroshima University sand29@lime.ocn.ne.jp |
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| LL Issue: | 10.402 | |
| Date Posted: | 16-Mar-1999 | |
| Original Query: | Read original query | |
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