ABSTRACT
Stretched verb structures all centre around a noun phrase or an adjective phrase that carries the ‘eventive’ meaning borne by the verb in a simple verb structure but ‘ejected’ from it, to use the terminology of Allerton (1982: 130–1), leaving a thin verb behind. The majority of stretched verb structures (Structures 3, 4, 5 and 6) all centre around a noun phrase that carries the ‘eventive’ meaning. In the case of Structures 4 and 5 the noun phrase that is the new home for the ‘eventive’ meaning, is, of course, embedded in a preposition phrase. Structure 2 has an agentive noun phrase, in which the event is only implicitly mentioned, and Structure 1 has an agentive adjective phrase, which is similar in this respect.
