"bring Route 40"

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Aug 29, 2008, at 7:01 AM, Joel S. Berson wrote:

>
> Aug. 29, 2008
> Headquarters of the Justice League.
>
> He brought the airplane home aboard ship.
>
> (signed)
> Aquaman
>
> [Ed.:  As did Charles Lindbergh.]

joel understands, of course, that this is just standard "bring".  what
we're looking for in this thread is "bring" + NP referring to a road
or a means of transportation + destination, the whole thing meaning
'travel to destination by means of NP' (a sense in which standard
usage has "take").

the example above is for "bring" + NP referring to a concrete object +
destination, with the meaning 'transport NP to destination', a
construction in which "bring" is standard (and "take" is a standard
alternative, the two differing in the point of view adopted by the
speaker).

so "He took an airplane to San Francisco" is ambiguous.

searches are complicated by the existence of this other construction,
not to mention still others, in particular the one in:

The new legislation brought Route 40 to Columbus.
Fresh funding will bring the subway to the museum.

(with an indirect 'cause to come to' sense). This construction also
allows "take".

arnold

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