[Ads-l] ADS-L Digest - 26 Sep 2022 to 27 Sep 2022 (#2022-242)

[Laurence Horn]

Good point, Amy.  There's one nice "us" cleft of that form, from a smokers'
addiction group; here, the contrast is explicit.  "It" below refers to the
nicotine patch.

It's an aid.

If you forget to use it see how you do.

If you forget two days in a row you should realize they aren't keeping you
from smoking.

It's us who keep us from smoking.

https://excommunity.becomeanex.org/t5/Quitting-Methods/Nicotine-patches-help/td-p/150075




On Wed, Sep 28, 2022 at 11:56 AM Amy West <medievalist at w-sts.com> wrote:

> On 9/28/22 00:04, ADS-L automatic digest system wrote:
> > Date:    Tue, 27 Sep 2022 20:34:51 -0400
> > From:    Laurence Horn<laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> > Subject: Re: WE KEEP US SAFE
> >
> > I'm not convinced that it isn't a case of implicit contrast or focus, at
> > least initially. (Seems like it's become a movement slogan.)
>
>
> In which case, we have to recognize that its form is more fixed (than not).
>
>
> > Note these
> > examples from the web, also with no explicit trigger but where (given the
> > cleft syntax) there's clearly a contrastive focus involved:
>
>
> Oh man, clefts. I sooo do not have a handle on analyzing cleft
> structures yet . . .
>
>
> >   it's we (or:
> > we're the ones), and not someone else
> >
> > At the end of the day, though, it's we who keep us safe.
>
>
> I find it interesting that for me, because of "it's" there, using an
> Objective Subject? ("us") would be an option in that first slot (giving
> "it's us who keep us safe", which would probably clash much more for Mark.)
>
>
> ---Amy West
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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