ABSTRACT
The aim of Part II is to describe and explain the relationships between the syntactic structures of simplex verb constructions and those of stretched verb constructions. The examples discussed in Part I made it clear that these relationships are no simple matter. In terms of the corresponding simplex structures, a stretched verb structure may have elements omitted, inserted or retained but with a new syntactic function. What then typically happens to the particular elements? We can already say that the semantic material of the lexical verb is displaced to various positions in its elaboration structure – to object position, for instance, in Structure 6, or to the noun phrase within a preposition phrase in Structures 4 and 5. But we also need to ask how the other syntactic elements are affected by this change. A further point to consider is what range of syntactic structures results from ‘stretching’ a simple verb structure: are the stretched structures actually longer or more complex, or do they remain within the format of simple elaborated verb structures, if necessary by dispensing with one or more elements?
