Hi,
Bill,
Believe
me, I never doubted your knowledge. I would be interested to know your take on
the command infinitive though.
Pax,
Clint
Clinton
Atchley, Ph.D.
Associate
Professor of English
Box
7652
1100
Henderson Street
Henderson
State University
Arkadelphia,
AR 71999
Phone:
870.230.5276
Email:
[log in to unmask]
Web:
http://www.hsu.edu/atchlec
From: Assembly for the
Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Spruiell,
William C
Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2008 1:34 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Because of vs. due to
Clint:
Mea maxima culpa (profunda
culpa?) on the infinitive glitch. I really do know better. Honest! – Bill
Spruiell
From: Assembly for the Teaching
of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Atchley,
Clinton
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 5:41 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Because of vs. due to
Hi,
Bill,
In
this example, I would have to go with the compound preposition since there is
no verb following the “to” but rather a noun, “lack.” I read “due to a
lack” as a prepositional phrase analogous to “due to illness” in a sentence
like, “He missed work due to illness.”
Regarding
the command infinitive, I generally consider it as part of the finite verb
phrase. Compare “you are to do the homework” with “you will do the
homework” where “will” can substitute for “are to.” “I have to pay my
bills” = “I must pay my bills.” “She is going to leave soon” = “She will
leave soon.” And so it goes.
Best,
Clint
Clinton
Atchley, Ph.D.
Associate
Professor of English
Box
7652
1100
Henderson Street
Henderson
State University
Arkadelphia,
AR 71999
Phone:
870.230.5276
Email:
[log in to unmask]
Web:
http://www.hsu.edu/atchlec
From: Assembly for the
Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Spruiell,
William C
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 4:08 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Because of vs. due to
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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