"is, is"

[Herb Stahlke]

Related to this is the nominative absolute construction

, . . . the point being that this is not a finite clause.

I hear fairly often as

The point being is that this is now a finite clause.

where "being" seems to take on a focus function.

Herb



>>> P2052 at AOL.COM 01/18/01 06:12AM >>>
In "The thing is, is it takes too much time,"  the second
instance of "is" is
the "main verb.  The original structure probably is "[What] the
[problem]/thing is, is [that] it takes too much time."  Not only
has "that"
been deleted in the surface structure, but so has"what".
P-A-T