Michael Kirschner wrote:
> In this sentence --  "People are blaming Terry's parents and not Terry for
> his actions"  -- (a) would you say we have a compound direct object made
> up of "parents" and "Terry" and (b) if so, what would you call "not"?
>

This looks like an elliptical sentence to me:

"People are blaming Terry's parents and they are not blaming
Terry..."  In your sentence the words "they are...blaming" (the
subject and verb) have been "substituted by zero" (to use Halliday &
Hasan's expression).  What remains is the negative of the verb "are
blaming."

What is "not"? Does it belong to one of the word classes
or is it in a class by itself (negativizer)?

There are two direct objects in your sentence, but they do not seem
to be compound in the same way that they are in other sentences, like
   She likes apples and peaches.  or  They threw bricks and bottles.

But then, what do you think of these?
   ?She likes apples and not peaches.  vs.
    She likes apples but not peaches.
Does the possibility of inserting "not" imply that all these
sentences with "compound direct objects" are really elliptical?

Thanks for asking the question; I'm sorry I have mostly just raised
more questions.  But hey, this list has been dead for at least a
week now.  We have to do something to stir things up, right?

Mike Medley

R. Michael Medley, Ph.D.
Director, Intensive English Program
Eastern Mennonite University
Harrisonburg, VA 22802
Office: (540) 432-4051
Home: (540) 574-4277