[HPSG-L] Is *remind* an object control verb

[Guy Emerson]

I think it sounds better with a reflexive pronoun:

"Please remind me to remind myself"

But you can replace reflexive pronouns with normal pronouns in the right
context:

"No one understands me.  Well, no one except me.  I understand me."

If that's acceptable, we could similarly have:

A: "Remind me to close the window when I leave"
B: "I'm leaving before you, so I won't be here to remind you when you leave"
A: "Well, before you leave, could you at least remind me to remind me?"

I still think it sounds a little dodgy, but it's sounds better here than
out of context.

As has already been said, "remind me to remind me" fits the song, for its
rhyme and meter, not because it's normal English.

2017-08-31 13:17 GMT+01:00 Hanno Beck <hbeck at hannobeck.de>:

> I am a native speaker of English who does not consider (1) "perfectly
> acceptable in ordinary discourse or text."
>
> (This is not to say that it wouldn't be possible to come up with a context
> in which it sounds more ordinary.)
>
> Hanno Beck
> Dept. of Linguistics
> The University at Buffalo
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Aug 31, 2017 at 3:53 AM, Tibor Kiss <tibor at linguistics.rub.de>
> wrote:
>
> >
> > > Am 31.08.2017 um 06:55 schrieb Pollard, Carl <pollard.4 at osu.edu>:
> > >
> > Hi,
> >
> > although this is kind of implicit in Emily’s answer: Do native speakers
> of
> > English agree that (1) is perfectly acceptable in ordinary discourse or
> > text?
> >
> > (1) Please remind me to remind me, you know, I’m kind of absent-minded.
> >
> > Best
> >
> > T.
> >
> >
> >
> > > Hi Tibor,
> > >
> > > How rare: a straightforward question with a straightforward answer.
> Yes,
> > remind is an
> > > object control verb. (Not all song lyrics are natural language.)
> > >
> > > Cheers,
> > >
> > > Carl
> > > ________________________________________
> > > From: HPSG-L [hpsg-l-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org] on behalf of
> > Tibor Kiss [tibor at linguistics.rub.de]
> > > Sent: Wednesday, August 30, 2017 3:22 AM
> > > To: hpsg-l at listserv.linguistlist.org
> > > Subject: [HPSG-L] Is *remind* an object control verb
> > >
> > > Dear native speakers of English on this list,
> > >
> > > I would like to know whether *remind*, when used with a non-finite
> > complement, should be analysed as a object control verb.
> > >
> > > OALD assumes (implicitly, by paraphrase) that *remind*, when used with
> > an infinitive, is an object control verb (INFLUENCE-type in PS 1994):
> > >
> > > (1) remind someone_i [PRO_i to do something]
> > >
> > > I am keen to know whether *remind*+infinitive could be used as a
> > non-control-verb.
> > >
> > > Thanks
> > >
> > > T.
> > >
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