Emotion verbs with to -infinitive complements: From specific to general predication
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Thomas Egan
Abstract
This paper traces the evolution of to-infinitive complement constructions with the emotion matrix verbs like, love, hate and prefer over the past two hundred years. It proposes that when the matrix verb is not preceded by a modal auxiliary these constructions should be analysed in Present-day English as encoding general rather than specific predications. In Late Modern English, on the other hand, these same constructions were widely used to encode specific predications. Using data from the BNC and the Corpus of Late Modern English Texts, the chapter demonstrates how these constructions have become increasingly restricted to encoding general predications over the past two hundred years. This development is related to the parallel expansion of -ing complement constructions and of toinfinitive complement constructions with modalised matrix verbs.
Abstract
This paper traces the evolution of to-infinitive complement constructions with the emotion matrix verbs like, love, hate and prefer over the past two hundred years. It proposes that when the matrix verb is not preceded by a modal auxiliary these constructions should be analysed in Present-day English as encoding general rather than specific predications. In Late Modern English, on the other hand, these same constructions were widely used to encode specific predications. Using data from the BNC and the Corpus of Late Modern English Texts, the chapter demonstrates how these constructions have become increasingly restricted to encoding general predications over the past two hundred years. This development is related to the parallel expansion of -ing complement constructions and of toinfinitive complement constructions with modalised matrix verbs.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
- Introduction ix
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Part I. Old and Middle English
- The balance between syntax and discourse in Old English 3
- The Old English copula weorðan and its replacement in Middle English 23
- Verb types and word order in Old and Middle English non-coordinate and coordinate clauses 49
- From locative to durative to focalized? The English progressive and 'PROG imperfective drift' 69
- Gender assignment in Old English 89
- On the position of the OE quantifier e all and PDE a ll 109
- On the Post-Finite Misagreement phenomenon in Late Middle English 125
- Syntactic dialectal variation in Middle English 141
- Particles as grammaticalized complex predicates 157
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Part II. Early and Late Modern English
- Adverb-marking patterns in Earlier Modern English coordinate constructions 183
- 'Tis he, 'tis she, 'tis me, 'tis – I don't know who … cleft and identificational constructions in 16th to 18th century English plays 203
- Emotion verbs with to -infinitive complements: From specific to general predication 223
- Subjective progressives in seventeenth and eighteenth century English 241
- Index of subjects & terms 257
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword vii
- Introduction ix
-
Part I. Old and Middle English
- The balance between syntax and discourse in Old English 3
- The Old English copula weorðan and its replacement in Middle English 23
- Verb types and word order in Old and Middle English non-coordinate and coordinate clauses 49
- From locative to durative to focalized? The English progressive and 'PROG imperfective drift' 69
- Gender assignment in Old English 89
- On the position of the OE quantifier e all and PDE a ll 109
- On the Post-Finite Misagreement phenomenon in Late Middle English 125
- Syntactic dialectal variation in Middle English 141
- Particles as grammaticalized complex predicates 157
-
Part II. Early and Late Modern English
- Adverb-marking patterns in Earlier Modern English coordinate constructions 183
- 'Tis he, 'tis she, 'tis me, 'tis – I don't know who … cleft and identificational constructions in 16th to 18th century English plays 203
- Emotion verbs with to -infinitive complements: From specific to general predication 223
- Subjective progressives in seventeenth and eighteenth century English 241
- Index of subjects & terms 257
