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Re: Grammar of "something to do."

From:Michael Poxon <m.poxon@...>
Date:Sunday, March 24, 2002, 14:04
These look to me like relative datives; "a place for-the-living-in",
"something for-the-doing-of" and so on. That's certainly how Omeina sees
them: ala allinalle (place | dwell-abstract noun-dative case with implied
relative).
Mike
----- Original Message -----
From: "Talpas Tim" <tim@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Friday, March 22, 2002 8:08 PM
Subject: Re: Grammar of "something to do."


> # > # How in the world do you analyze phrases like "something to do," "a > # place to live," "someone to love?" > # > # It looks like an English infinitive is following these nouns, but the > # exact nature of the relationship is a little confusing to me. Clearly > # the "to X" phrase modifies the noun. There's sometimes a hint of > # obligation in these phrases, sometimes suitability. > # > # How do other languages handle this? > > Seems almost prepositional... Portuguese handles this with 'para +
infinitive'
> > "algo pra fazer" - something to do (this kinda has a literal meaning of > "something for doing") > > and Romanian with 'de + past participle' > > "ceva de facut" - something to do > > -tim > > http://www.zece.com/conlang/