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Is "do" derived? (was Re: Question about "do")

From:Nik Taylor <yonjuuni@...>
Date:Monday, July 28, 2003, 22:20
Roger Mills wrote:
> "Do" also serves to replace a verb phrase in anaphora: > He likes toast and jam, and I do too, or > .........but I don't. > > And in the tag questions-- > He likes toast and jam, doesn't he? > He doesn't like toast and jam, does he? > > There's also the British usage (which may be on its way out, though one > still hears it in TV imports)-- > He doesn't go to church as often as he used to do.
For these reasons, I'm tempted to analyze the do forms as the *basic* form, with the "simple" present and past as being derived. Thus, "He likes toast and jam" would be underlyingly "He does like toast and jam". Thus, it behaves just like any other auxiliary "He will eat toast and jam, but I won't", "He has eaten the toast and jam, hasn't he?". The rule then being that when do is unstressed in an affirmative statement, the do-less forms are used. -- "There's no such thing as 'cool'. Everyone's just a big dork or nerd, you just have to find people who are dorky the same way you are." - overheard ICQ: 18656696 AIM Screen-Name: NikTaylor42

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Thomas R. Wier <trwier@...>