[Fwd: Verb aspect and ellipsis]

Matthew S Dryer dryer at ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU
Wed May 23 04:06:35 UTC 2001


Further support for Ellen Prince's response to Johanna's question
(although the way I would put it is that the construction Johanna
described as "elliptical" is not elliptical at all) comes from the fact
that this participial construction also occurs with other subordinators
other than 'while', where progressive meaning is more clearly absent, such
as 'after' and 'before':

The car fell off the bridge after colliding with a truck.
(*The car fell off the bridge after it was colliding with a truck.)

Tim confessed to his crimes before dying.
(*Tim confessed to his crimes before he was dying.)

An ellipsis analysis is particularly unlikely with 'despite' plus
participial phrase, since 'despite' cannot occur with finite clauses:

Mary was unable to save him, despite being a doctor.
(*Mary was unable to save him, despite she was being a doctor.)

Note also the use of this participial construction with 'after' plus a
participial phrase headed by the auxiliary verb 'have', which always
precedes the progressive auxiliary 'be' (cf. 'I have been swimming'),
showing clearly that the fact we get the present participle of 'have'
cannot be due to an ellipted 'be':

John finally went home after having walked around for hours.
(*John finally went home after he was having walked around for hours.)

Matthew Dryer

On Mon, 21 May 2001, Ellen F. Prince wrote:

> >A friend posted this query to a grammar list I subscribe to:
> >
> >> Here are two sentences containing adverb clauses:
> >>
> >> (1)  She raised three children while she was working two jobs.
> >> (2)  She raised three children while she worked two jobs.
> >>
> >> In sentence (1), we can make the adverb clause elliptical:  "She raised
> >> three children while working two jobs."
> >>
> >> Can somebody explain why the corresponding clause in (2) cannot be made
> >> elliptical: *"She raised three children while worked two jobs"?
> >>
> >Any theories?
> >
> >I think this has something to do with the construal of 'working' as an
> >ongoing process, thanks to the participial suffix; this coheres better
> >with the meaning of 'while' than does the simple past 'worked'.
> >
> >But then why is #2 grammatical at all?
>
> The elliptical sentence has nothing to do with #1; in #1 there is
> the progressive whereas in the elliptical sentence there is a
> participle. Note that verbs that do not occur in the progressive
> have no difficulty appearing participially:
>
> She lived in Manhattan while owning a house in the suburbs
>
> vs.
>
> *She lived in Manhattan while she was owning a house in the suburbs.
>
>
> When knowing the questions in advance, one can do very well on an exam.
>
> vs.
>
> *When one is knowing the questions in advance, one can...
>
>
> Ellen Prince
>



More information about the Funknet mailing list