Substitution

The essential idea behind this test is that a single word can substitute for a number of words hanging together as a phrase. This is demonstrated in (9)

Them in (9b) substitutes for the intriguing results of the latest examination in (9a). Similarly, in (6a) and (6b) David can be substituted for the pupils in this maths class: David baked cakes for Margaret every Friday and Cakes were baked for Margaret every Friday by David.

The test of substitution applies to sequences of words with adjectives, such as those in (7); This parcel is very heavy, This parcel is astonishingly and frighteningly heavy or simply This parcel is heavy. The single adjective heavy substitutes for the sequences very heavy and astonishingly and frighteningly heavy but another type of substitution is possible, using the specialized substitution word so. Consider the dialogue in (10). (Here capital letters represent different speakers.)

The test of so-substitution exemplified in (10) is straightforward in that the sequence very heavy is removed and so is dropped into the empty slot. Another type of so-substitution is rather indirect. Consider (11).

There is no doubt that so ‘stands for’ very heavy. The reason for calling

this substitution ‘indirect’ is that so has not simply been dropped into the slot occupied by very heavy but has been moved to the front of the clause. Nonetheless, so-substitution is a good indication that sequences such as very heavy form a larger unit.

Substitution can be applied to sequences introduced by prepositions, as in (12) and (13).

There in (12b) substitutes for in the lounge in (12a), and here in (13b) substitutes for to Mr Chalky’s school in (13a). Examples in which a single preposition substitutes for a whole sequence are difficult to find. This is mainly because prepositions typically require a complement, but also because in standard written English there is a contrast between in for location and into for movement, and for many speakers there is a contrast between out of for movement and out for location, as in (14).

In informal spoken English, and certainly in non-standard varieties of English, in and out express both location and movement, and (14b, c) can be expressed as (15a, b).

These examples can be shortened to those in (16).

In these examples, in and out can be treated as single words substituting for the longer phrases in the kitchen and out the cheese-box. However, for the large majority of prepositions, the substitution of a preposition for preposition plus noun phrase does not work, whether in writing or informal speech, in standard or non-standard English.

Finally in this section, let us note that all the above examples show a sequence of words being replaced by one word. The converse is that a single word can be replaced by a sequence of words: Cheese is good can be changed to That French cheese with the blue veins is good. The latter example is occasionally described in terms of cheese being expanded to that French cheese with the blue veins, but it is treated here as a type of substitution.