I've been reading this list long enough that every time I have a
question, I get this sneaking suspicion that it's been discussed before
and I just can't find the thread - so apologies if I'm reheating
leftovers here. 

 

In one of my grammar classes, a student asked what to do with a sentence
like, "I happened to look up right at that moment." My reflex is to
treat "happen to" the same way I'd treat "have to," "going to" and
"ought to" - as a kind of modal-like combination. I'd feel better about
that analysis, though, if I had some kind of test or set of tests I
could use to identify quasimodals (other than instinct; I have this gut
feeling that instinct will get me in trouble). 

 

Based on the three "acknowledged quasimodals" I mentioned above, it
looks like one criterion might be based on transitivity. While various
forms of "have" are transitive, there's no sense in which "I have to
write a paper" can be construed as analogous to "I have something"; you
can't "ought something," and you can't "go something" either unless you
use the "become" sense of go, which doesn't seem at play in "going to
write a paper," etc.  (also, the "become" version is followed by an
adjective or a noun that's arguably in adjectival function, as in "go
bananas"). In constructions that seem to be drifting toward quasimodal
status, but aren't in the official list (in that traditional grammar
treats them as a main verb followed by an infinitival object), you can
set up transitive analogues - "I want to watch a movie" // "I want
something"; "I started to watch a movie" // "I started something." You
can't "happen something," of course, so that supports treating "happens
to" as a quasimodal. 

 

Is there a different established way to treat "happens to V"? 

 

Thanks in advance - 

 

Bill Spruiell

Dept. of English

Central Michigan University


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