[Ads-l] rapid-fire - adverb

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Thu May 5 19:13:48 UTC 2016


> On May 5, 2016, at 8:37 AM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Yes, in the same way we expect Trumpian "big league" only to appear at the
> end of a VP.

Notice though that while "rapid-fire" occurs before the verb in Benjamin Barrett's cite, it seems natural enough (and is easily attested) as an adverb in the sequence "go rapid-fire on", where it's also not VP-final, although post-verbal.  Of course I first read the above generalization as pertaining to Trump's VP (choice), whoever that turns out to be.  It doesn't look like he's going to rapid-fire decide, or decide rapid-fire on that, although I understand a former head of Hewlett-Packard is now available.

LH

> 
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu_nll_-3Fp-3D24240&d=AwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=ymV6p6Uxp4AoohX8z3DspmLB10HXQV70UXcIBCDbqus&s=9pIakBueSs6uUxbXLGN2MOmLU0h---fwdaL4kYT5qNQ&e= 
> 
> Today's followup:
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu_nll_-3Fp-3D25566&d=AwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=ymV6p6Uxp4AoohX8z3DspmLB10HXQV70UXcIBCDbqus&s=3ReTgKMfoFo9mD0WPHXCEONjU8-lG5tLjmjZOzEjSVU&e= 
> 
> 
> On Thu, May 5, 2016 at 1:13 AM, Benjamin Barrett <mail.barretts at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> I think what is particularly unusual about this the placement. In the
>> sentence below, “to you, rapid fire” seems normal. BB
>> 
>>> On 4 May 2016, at 20:06, Benjamin Barrett <mail.barretts at GMAIL.COM>
>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> “...let me just rapid-fire give them to you”
>>> 
>>> Thomas Frank
>>> "How to Study Effectively: 8 Advanced Tips - College Info Geek”
>>> 22 January 2015
>>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.youtube.com_watch-3Fv-3D5ad6grll-2Dak&d=AwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=ymV6p6Uxp4AoohX8z3DspmLB10HXQV70UXcIBCDbqus&s=R9cEvuzaLGeeOg0QrnNHFTNppXn6MSXS9R5OsBUZkkc&e= 
>>> 7:50 in the video
>>> 
>>> I see “rapid-fire” as an adjective on Wiktionary and the Oxford
>> Dictionary site, but not as an adverb.
>>> 
>> 
> 
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