[Fwd: Verb aspect and ellipsis]

[Dick Hudson]

Matthew Dryer says:
>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.)
## No, I think these are gerunds, not participles. They don't work with
passive participles or even verbless clauses, in contrast with WHEN and WHILE:
(1) He did it when/while/*after/*before (employed) at the bank.
The contrast is quite clear but (so far as I can see) unmotivated by
functional considerations.



Richard (= Dick) Hudson

Phonetics and Linguistics, University College London,
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