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Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:14:09 -0400 |
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On 2009-10-29, at 8:43 PM, Assembly for the Teaching of English
Grammar wrote:
> This represents a fairly common problem of syntax and morphology not
> lining up with each other. Certainly "to eat" is an infinitive, but
> "to" also cliticizes to "going" when "going to" acts as a modal, as
> shown by its contraction to "gonna".
I think overmuch is made of this phonological point. The 'to' in
"planning to" has a similar realization, but nobody makes a big deal
about 'planna'.
The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language calls 'to' a
subordinator (a small set that also includes 'that', 'whether/if' and
certain uses of 'for'). It's neither part of "be going to" nor part of
the infinitive.
Best,
Brett
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Brett Reynolds
English Language Centre
Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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