The go + fishing construction is a concatenive verb structure.  Some follow
the verb + infinitive pattern (e.g. I hope to see her) and others
follow the verb + gerund pattern (e.g. I appreciate hearing that).
A handful of verbs can take either (I like to eat, I like eating).
Some (these are my favorites) take both but with a subtle
difference in meaning (as in "I remembered to lock the door,"
and "I remembered locking the door.")  These are always
great fun to explain to non-native speakers.

Greta



>This brings up a question we have been pondering = what is the function of
>'fishing' in "I go fishing"? It would seem the preferable solution would be
>"I fish."  Is the structure using 'go' as an apparent 'helping verb'
>idiomatic; somewhat like "I have *got* a cold."? In "I go fishing," can
>'fishing' somehow act like an adverb -- I go {where}; I cannot see it as a
>Direct Object, but maybe my sight is not what it used to be.
>Gordon Carmichael
>Central Texas College and Tarleton State University, Killeen, Texas
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Bruce Despain" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Friday, August 03, 2001 10:07 AM
>Subject: Re: <no subject>
>
>
>This discrepancy between Marylou and Sophie is in the area where semantics
>and syntax conflict.  I wonder about the following observations.
>
>In the sentence "I must go" are we tempted to think that "go" is the object
>of the verb "must"?  (We can ask, "What must you (do)?")  Historically, we
>could probably make a good argument that at some time it was so perceived.
>What about in the periphrastic version, "I have to go"?  Does the infinitive
>marked by "to" make it clear that maybe we have a complement (object) to the
>verb "have"?  Similarly with some other periphrastic versions of the modals
>(can - be able to; will - is going to, is about to) , where we have
>complements to adjectives.  At one time this may have been the perception.
>But as with other formations of the verb, we now have modals as well as
>helping verbs for the semantic categories established as tense and aspect.
>
>Do the Australians now have a compound verb that works like modal
>pariphrasis in "try to improve"?  Do they want to make "try" a quasi-modal?
>Perhaps the contrasting colloquial "try and improve", which seems to be an
>attempt to maintain the original syntactic independence, motivates the new
>syntactic analysis for "try".
>
>For me the object of "try" is an infinitive phrase serving as a noun phrase
>and the object of "improve" is a noun phrase.  With the phrase "try and
>improve" the accomplishment is implied.  Here the verb "try" is either
>intransitive or has an undersood object of "something", and the verb
>"improve" shares the same subject, but has its own object.  The existence
>and the contrast of these two collocations, seems to give "try to improve"
>the implication that the improvement will in fact occur.
>
>Bruce Despain
>
>>>> [log in to unmask] 08/03/01 05:55AM >>>
>`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
>
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Greta Vollmer, Asst. Professor          Sonoma State University
Department of English                   1801 E. Cotati Ave.
(707) 664-2504                          Rohnert Park, CA  94928
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