Re: Grammar-holes: secondary predication

On 7/15/07, MorphemeAddict@wmconnect.com <MorphemeAddict@...> wrote:
> In a message dated 7/15/2007 8:09:42 AM Central Daylight Time,
> philip.newton@GMAIL.COM writes:
>
> > Actually, the first reminds me of the construction "Als er an zu
> > singen fing", which is nonstandard but is heard in some regions of
> > Germany.
>
> I thought that "an zu singen" would be one word: anzusingen.
That could be one word ("to sing the first few bars of something", or
the like, or perhaps "to start something up by singing"), but the "an"
belongs to "fing" in that construction -- it's from "anfangen".

Assuming that it belongs to "singen" would raise the question what
catching (fangen) has to do with singing the first bit of something,
or how "fangen" participates in a "zu"-construction in the first
place.

Cheers,
--
Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>