Form follows function

[Martin Jansche]

On Thu, 5 Apr 2001, Tibor Kiss wrote:

> Where can I insert an adverb between a series of auxiliaries in English,
> i.e.
>
> (1) John has often been asking strange questions.
> (2) John has been often asking strange questions.
> (3) John often has been asking strange questions.
>
> I assume that (2) and (3) are bad. What do the experts say? (ok, I can find
> all the answers in Pollock (1989), but I don't want to go into that.)

That may depend on the adverbs and the semantics (tense, aspect) of
the VP.  It may also help to have as the highest auxiliary a form that
does not cliticize to the subject.  I don't see anything wrong with
the following two sentences, but that's just me:

  (2') John has been often asked strange questions.
  (3') John often has been asked strange questions.

- martin