tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31830497.post3226409737944362691..comments2024-02-28T05:25:12.859-05:00Comments on English, Jack: More on more obligatory adjectivesBretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02870575277556244419noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31830497.post-87464673462371125762008-07-08T16:50:00.000-05:002008-07-08T16:50:00.000-05:00"My naive parsing would be[ a [ [ surprising fifty..."My naive parsing would be<BR/>[ a [ [ surprising fifty ] students ]"<BR/><BR/>John Payne points out the problem with this analysis with the following example:<BR/><BR/>[a [ surprising [three days and two weeks ] ]Bretthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02870575277556244419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31830497.post-4063052512221064452008-07-08T15:50:00.000-05:002008-07-08T15:50:00.000-05:00Brett parses one of his examples as [ a [ surp...Brett parses one of his examples as <BR/> [ a [ surprising [ fifty students ] ] ]<BR/><BR/>My naive parsing would be <BR/> [ a [ [ surprising fifty ] students ]<BR/><BR/> Does this bear examination?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31830497.post-24031000941490444912008-07-08T08:54:00.000-05:002008-07-08T08:54:00.000-05:00Re: Brett's comment:'I now feel that I have a bett...Re: Brett's comment:<BR/><BR/>'I now feel that I have a better understanding of the constituent structure, but I still don't know why the nominal requires a determiner. Plural nominals don't, typically, you know.':<BR/><BR/>Hmmm... well, I can't really explain it, either, but it's worth noting one of the the examples given in the CGEL:<BR/><BR/>[70] i [Another body/*bodies] had been discovered.<BR/>ii [Another three bodies] have been discovered.<BR/><BR/>The use of 'another' in 'another three bodies' would seem to imply that 'three bodies', considered as a nominal rather than a noun phrase, is actually <I>singular</I>. This doesn't explain why it takes plural verb agreement, though... <BR/><BR/>It seems that we've got the paradoxical situation of a singular nominal that's plural in form ('three bodies') inside a plural noun phrase that's singular in form (judging by the choice of 'another' as the determiner). Matt_Mhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07179197161409408647noreply@blogger.com