Re: Grammar of "something to do."
From: | Talpas Tim <tim@...> |
Date: | Friday, March 22, 2002, 20:40 |
#
# 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/
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