The students in one of my (college) grammar classes are starting to
analyze text from "naturally-occurring" sources (as opposed to textbook
examples) and bringing in sentences that stump them so we can discuss
them in class (and so I can repeatedly notice that English is weird,
which anyone who teaches grammar needs to be reminded of as often as
possible).  A recent example involved a construction like the following
(something like this may have come up on the list before, but if so, it
was long enough ago that it's not in my saved folder; apologies if it is
indeed repetition):

 

                These problems were due simply to a lack of water in the
surrounding area.

 

I could think of two analyses off the bat:

 

(1)          "due" is an adjective being modified by an infinitive
phrase (this is how I usually deal with "able to..." etc.

 

(2)          "due to" is a compound preposition, analogous to "because
of."

 

I used the fact that "simply" is wedged between "due" and "to" to argue
for version #1, since there's no parallel example that would involve
"because simply of."

 

But... I later realized that examples like the following don't sound
that strange:

 

                We canceled the game because - and only because - of the
weather.

 

Does that example strike y'all (you'ns, you guys, youse) as possible, or
have I done the usual linguist trick of cogitating myself into a corner?
I also have to figure out what to do with "command infinitives" like
"You are to do the homework"...

 

Thanks - Bill Spruiell


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