which we're going to get through this

[Randy Alexander]

On Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 8:17 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> My theory is  that the construction began (and possibly renews itself from
> time to time) in a vague intention to relativize and subordinate which then
> fizzles out for any number of reasons.

I remember noticing constructions like this in college, not from
hearing it form other people, but from trying to say it myself.  For
example:

-- I saw something that I didn't know what it was.

I found this troublesome because you can say:

-- I saw something that I didn't recognize.

But once you put a verb like "know" with its wh- clause as complement
in the relative clause, it breaks down.  It feels to me not like a
garden path sentence, or an error that should be corrected as "I saw
somethng and/but I didn't know what it was", but rather a kind of
failure of English syntax.

--
Randy Alexander
Jilin City, China
My Manchu studies blog:
http://www.bjshengr.com/manchu

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