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Secondary-C types

المؤلف:  R.M.W. Dixon

المصدر:  A Semantic approach to English grammar

الجزء والصفحة:  196-6

2023-03-24

1589

Secondary-C types

Secondary-C verbs are like Secondary-B in introducing just one role (the subject of the Secondary verb) in addition to the roles of the verb in the complement clause. They differ semantically in that Secondary-B verbs simply describe the subject’s attitude towards some event or state (John wants/expects Mary to propose the toast) whereas the subject of a Secondary-C verb plays a role in bringing about the event or state (John forced/ permitted/helped Mary to propose the toast).

 

A Secondary-B verb often has complement clause subject identical to main clause subject and it is then normally omitted (John wants (himself) to propose the toast). A Secondary-C verb, in contrast, seldom has the two subjects identical, and if they do happen to be, then neither can be omitted (John forced himself to propose the toast, not *John forced to propose the toast).

 

Another difference is that certain verbs may be omitted from the complement clause of a Secondary-B verb, e.g. I want (to get) a new car, She expects John (to come) today. This is possible after a Secondary-C verb only very occasionally, when the omitted verb could be inferred from the preceding discourse, e.g. ‘Why did Mary resign?’ ‘Jane forced her to’ (sc. resign). Some Secondary-B verbs, but no Secondary-C items, can be used with nothing following the predicate, e.g. I’m just wishing/hoping, but not *I’m just forcing/allowing.

 

The POSTPONING type has some semantic similarity with MAKING verbs, in that the subject has a role in controlling what happens, e.g. I put off John’s being examined by the doctor until tomorrow, and I forced John to be examined by the doctor. However, the subject of a POSTPONING verb only organizes the time of an event, they do not make or help it happen. POSTPONING is a Secondary-B type, with similar syntactic properties to WANTING, e.g. omission of complement clause subject (I put off (my) being examined by the doctor until tomorrow) and occasional omission of all postpredicate constituents (She’s always delaying).