LING477 Lecture Notes - Lecture 22: Lexical Verb, Noun Phrase, Tag Question
29 Nov 2017
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Npi expressions such as ever, anymore, are ungrammatical in affirmative sentences, but grammatical in corresponding negative ones. Billy thinks that he"ll ever fly a plane again (x) Billy hopes to ever fly again (x) Billy doesn"t think that he"ll ever fly a plane again. Bill doesn"t hope to ever fly a plane again. Billy doubts that he"ll ever fly a plane again. Billy refuses to ever fly a plane again. Unlike think, hope, the verbs doubt & refuse have a [negative] component in their meaning. Therefore, they can license npi. (x) billy thinks that he"ll ever fly a plane again. Billy doesn"t hope to ever fly a plane again (x) billy hopes to ever fly a plane again. He should have been doing his homework. If there is a modal in a sentence, it comes after the modal. If there is no modal, it goes between the auxiliary and the lexical verb. (after the auxiliary)
