Re: Negation raising (was: introduction)

On Wed, 31 Jul 2002 10:14, Christian Thalmann wrote:
> --- In conlang@y..., John Cowan <jcowan@R...> wrote:
> > Christophe Grandsire scripsit:
> > > I think I don't need to give a translation :)))
> >
> > I point out this Christophe-ism, not in the spirit of correction, but
> > rather in the spirit of letting the imagination run away with it.
> > In English, "I think ..." raises negation from the embedded sentence
> > to the matrix, so we express this as "I don't think I need ...".
> > This can happen even across sentences...
>
> I have this weird sentence in my head...  could one of you native
> speakers tell me whether it's actual spoken English or just another
> brainfart of mine?  ;-)
>
> "I can't seem to do it" meaning "It seems that I can't do it."
Valid English in my part of the world.  it seems that the phrase "I can't
seem" is regarded as being equal to "It seems I can't", and the last few
words are a separate clause altogether.

Wesley Parish

>
> So?  If it's valid, it sure is one heck of a grammatical stunt.
>
>
> -- Christian Thalmann
--
Mau e ki, "He aha te mea nui?"
You ask, "What is the most important thing?"
Maku e ki, "He tangata, he tangata, he tangata."
I reply, "It is people, it is people, it is people."

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