Paul:
Re: Mary is trying to improve the condition of her house.
Yes, the pronoun test works for both the infinitive phrase and the noun
phrase because both are functioning as nominals; both are direct objects:
the infinitive phrase is the object of 'trying'; the noun phrase, the
object of 'improve.'
The pronoun test is a great one for students to use, for example, in
finding the break between the subject and predicate. It's especially
useful when the noun phrase in the subject slot has postnoun modifiers that
include verbs. Students tend to get confused when they come to a verb,
such as 'playing' in the following:
All the children playing on the swings in the playground saw the fight.
Ask them to substitute a pronoun for the subject, and they will come up with
They saw the fight.
Their internalized pronoun expertise is another way of emphasizing what
great grammar computers they have in their syntax machines.
In response to Sophie's long message, I would simply ask you, dear Sophie,
to use the passive test:
John attempted to attack the burglar.
John appeared to attack the burglar.
Quirk et al. used this pair to distinguish between the catenative
'appear' and the transitive 'attempt'. I would add the passive test to
show that the infinitive phrase is the direct object of 'attempt'. If
'attempt' were a copular verb, as you suggest in #4, then the passive would
not be possible. But it is possible:
To attack the burglar was attempted.
I admit that's not very idiomatic. How about a what-cleft:
To attack the burglar is what he attempted.
Or, perhaps a more acceptable passive, in which the active version used the
gerund, rather than the infinitive:
John attempted attacking the burglar.
Attacking the burglar was attempted.
In any case,
It was attempted.
To call 'attempt' a copular (i.e, linking) verb strikes me as indefensible.
(And, yes, the 'appeared' sentence is ambiguous, in that the infinitive
could be adverbial, with the 'in order to' meaning:
John appeared in order to attack the burglar.
To attack the burglar, John appeared [at just the right moment].
You also discuss the verb 'vowed' (in a version of my 'string-of-verbs'
sentence: I vowed to stop smoking cigarettes), also calling it a copular
verb. You label the infinitive phrase, to stop smoking, "a noun phrase
specifying the content of the copular-verb 'vowed.' .
To begin with, an infinitive phrase is by its nature a verb phrase in form,
not a noun phrase. In this sentence it is noun-like, of course, in that it
is nominal in function: a direct object. You could substitute the pronoun
'that' and produce a idiomatic sentence: I vowed that. That is what I
vowed. That was vowed by me. Again, let's give it the passive test: To
stop smoking was vowed.
In the opening of your long response, you say 'I do not think that my
approach to analysis is at odds with theirs [Quirk et al]. But please
correct me if I'm wrong.'
In your analysis of 'attempt' and 'vow' as copular verbs, you are indeed at
odds with them. [See page 1187]
Martha
>But we could also substitute 'it' for the noun phrase, "the condition of her
>house."
>
>"Mary is trying to improve it."
>
>The analysis seems to work both ways at once!
>
>Paul E. Doniger
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: jacarta
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Saturday, August 04, 2001 8:21 AM
> Subject: Re: <no subject>
>
>
> The infinitive phrase "to improve the condition of her house"
> can be substituted by the pronoun "it." Thus, the infinitive
> phrase is actually a NOUN PHRASE that functions
> as the object of the verb "is trying."
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Sophie Johnson
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Friday, August 03, 2001 7:55 AM
> Subject: Re: <no subject>
>
>
> `Mary is trying to improve the condition of her house':
>
> There is no question in the above sentence of the verb's being anything
>more or less than `is trying to improve', nor of its object's being anything
>other than `the condition of the house'. `Mary', the subject of this
>active-voice verb, is not acting upon `to improve the condition of her house';
>she is acting upon `the condition of her house'.
>
> Analysis of this sentence must note that it contains an active-voice verb,
>and that the characteristic of an active-voice verb is that its subject acts
>upon its object: Its subject names its actor, and its object the acted-upon.
>`To improve the condition of her house' does not name the acted-upon. This
>sequence cannot, therefore, be the object of this sentence, direct or
>indirect.
>
> This really is a very basic exercise in part-of-speech recognition.
>
> Sophie Johnson
> at ENGLISH GRAMMAR TUTOR
> http://www.englishgrammartutor.com/
> [log in to unmask]
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Marylou Colucci
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Friday, August 03, 2001 12:18 PM
> Subject: Re: <no subject>
>
>
> to improve the condition of her house is an infinitive phrase that
>functions
> as the direct object.
> Mary is trying what? to improve the condition of her house
>
><!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
><HTML><HEAD>
><META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv=Content-Type>
><META content="MSHTML 5.00.2314.1000" name=GENERATOR>
><STYLE></STYLE>
></HEAD>
><BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
><DIV><FONT face="Century Schoolbook">But we could also substitute 'it' for the
>noun phrase, "the condition of her house." </FONT></DIV>
><DIV> </DIV>
><DIV><FONT face="Century Schoolbook">"Mary is trying to improve
>it."</FONT></DIV>
><DIV> </DIV>
><DIV><FONT face="Century Schoolbook">The analysis seems to work both ways at
>once!</FONT></DIV>
><DIV> </DIV>
><DIV><FONT face="Century Schoolbook">Paul E. Doniger</FONT></DIV>
><BLOCKQUOTE
>style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px;
>PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px">
> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
> <DIV
> style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color:
>black"><B>From:</B>
> <A href="mailto:[log in to unmask]" [log in to unmask]>jacarta</A> </DIV>
> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
> href="mailto:[log in to unmask]"
> [log in to unmask]>[log in to unmask]</A> </DIV>
> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, August 04, 2001 8:21
> AM</DIV>
> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: <no subject></DIV>
> <DIV><BR></DIV>
> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The infinitive phrase "to improve the condition
> of her house"</FONT></DIV>
> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>can be substituted by the pronoun "it."
> Thus, the infinitive</FONT></DIV>
> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>phrase is actually a NOUN PHRASE that
> functions</FONT></DIV>
> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>as the object of the verb "is
> trying."</FONT></DIV>
> <BLOCKQUOTE
> style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px;
>PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px">
> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
> <DIV
> style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color:
>black"><B>From:</B>
> <A href="mailto:[log in to unmask]"
> [log in to unmask]>Sophie Johnson</A> </DIV>
> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
> href="mailto:[log in to unmask]"
> [log in to unmask]>[log in to unmask]</A> </DIV>
> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, August 03, 2001 7:55
> AM</DIV>
> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: <no subject></DIV>
> <DIV><BR></DIV>
> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>`Mary is trying to improve the condition of
>her
> house':</FONT></DIV>
> <DIV> </DIV>
> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>There is no question in the above sentence of
> the verb's being anything more or less than `is trying to improve', nor of
> its object's being anything other than `the condition of the house'.
> `Mary', the subject of this active-voice verb, is not acting upon `to
> improve the condition of her house'; she is acting upon `the condition of
> her house'.</FONT></DIV>
> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Analysis of this sentence must note that it
> contains an active-voice verb, and that the characteristic of an
> active-voice verb is that its subject acts upon its object: Its subject
> names its actor, and its object the acted-upon. `To improve the condition
>of
> her house' does not name the acted-upon. This sequence cannot, therefore,
> be the object of this sentence, direct or indirect. </FONT></DIV>
> <DIV> </DIV>
> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>This really is a very basic exercise in
> part-of-speech recognition.</FONT></DIV>
> <DIV> </DIV>
> <DIV>Sophie Johnson<BR>at ENGLISH GRAMMAR TUTOR<BR><A
>
>href="http://www.englishgrammartutor.com/">http://www.englishgrammartutor.com/<
>/A><BR><A
>
>href="mailto:[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]</A>
></DIV>
> <BLOCKQUOTE
> style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT:
>0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px">
> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
> <DIV
> style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color:
>black"><B>From:</B>
> <A href="mailto:[log in to unmask]" [log in to unmask]>Marylou
> Colucci</A> </DIV>
> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
> href="mailto:[log in to unmask]"
> [log in to unmask]>[log in to unmask]</A> </DIV>
> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, August 03, 2001 12:18
> PM</DIV>
> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: <no
>subject></DIV>
> <DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT color=#8000ff face=Pooh
> lang=0 size=2>to improve the condition of her house is an infinitive
> phrase that functions <BR>as the direct object. <BR>Mary is trying what?
> to improve the condition of her house</FONT>
></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>
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