[Fwd: Verb aspect and ellipsis]

[Johanna Rubba]

A friend posted this query to a grammar list I subscribe to:

> Here are two sentences containing adverb clauses:
>
> (1)  She raised three children while she was working two jobs.
> (2)  She raised three children while she worked two jobs.
>
> In sentence (1), we can make the adverb clause elliptical:  "She raised
> three children while working two jobs."
>
> Can somebody explain why the corresponding clause in (2) cannot be made
> elliptical: *"She raised three children while worked two jobs"?
>
Any theories?

I think this has something to do with the construal of 'working' as an
ongoing process, thanks to the participial suffix; this coheres better
with the meaning of 'while' than does the simple past 'worked'.

But then why is #2 grammatical at all?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johanna Rubba   Assistant Professor, Linguistics
English Department, California Polytechnic State University
One Grand Avenue  • San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Tel. (805)-756-2184  •  Fax: (805)-756-6374 • Dept. Phone.  756-259
• E-mail: jrubba at calpoly.edu •  Home page: http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
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