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Date: | Wed, 9 Apr 2008 17:09:26 -0700 |
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I'm with Bill that it's definitely a subjunctive clause.
If you go by the traditional definition of finiteness as simply related
to verb inflection, this should be a non-finite clause (despite the
misleading name of "present subjunctive" sometimes used.) This is the
base form of the verb. Notice, for example, the lack of tense concord
that would be mandatory with a different verb in the matrix clause
(e.g., "they said that the Greek colonies of Lydia *recognized* ...")
But note that both Quirk et alia and Huddleston & Pullum classify
subjunctives (and imperatives) as finite forms.
The logic of doing so is that finiteness is a gradient scale rather than
a strictly binary category. Subjunctive and imperative verbs don't have
all the finite properties of indicative verbs, but they have more than
infinitives do. There's a nice table of the various criteria and how
they stack up in section 3.52 of /A Comprehensive Grammar of the English
Language/.
Castilleja, Janet wrote:
> Hi
>
> What do you folks make of this sentence? Is the clause that begins 'that the Greek colonies..." finite or non-finite? I think it is non-finite, but I'm wavering a little.
>
>
> When they reached the coast of Asia Minor, they insisted that the Greek colonies of Lydia recognize the Persian Kings as their over- Lords and pay them a stipulated tax.
>
> Thanks
>
> Janet Castilleja
> Heritage University
>
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