Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

Re: Comparison of sentences

From:Lars Finsen <lars.finsen@...>
Date:Monday, October 16, 2006, 16:31
Den 16. okt. 2006 kl. 15.57 skrev caeruleancentaur:

> No, it doesn't help, but thanks for trying. > > Let me see if I can explain my problem more clearly. > > 1. I sat at my desk > 2. longer than > 3. the day has hours > > 1. I sat at my desk > 2. for a time longer than > 3. the day has hours > > Are these two independent clauses or is #3 a dependent clause?
I'd say the latter.
> I am heavier > than ("in comparison to" in Senjecas) > he (him) > > In this structure "he (him)" is the object of the > postposition "than." > > In the previous example there is no noun or pronoun to be the > object of "than." > > And that is my problem. How do I express "comparative + than" when > it links two clauses & not two substantives? It seem to me that > what is being compared is "I sat" & "day has."
You could perhaps analyse it to say "I sat at my desk for a time longer than the hours of the day." Then you have two nouns, clearly. The original English sentence is basically trying to compare an adverb (long-er) and relating it to a dependent clause. If your language can put a comparative marker on the adverb and a relative marker on the verb of the dependent clause, it should be able to handle it, I think. Isn't "than" usually viewed as a conjuction, BTW? Not sure, English grammar is not my strong point. LEF