Re: It's vs. it is

In a message dated 4/16/01 6:13:50 PM, pearson@HUMNET.UCLA.EDU writes:

<< What do you mean by "subject position"?  "Is" is not--and cannot be--a
subject.

If what you mean is that "is" can be contracted when it follows a subject,
then
your rule doesn't work:  In the sentence "I don't know what it is", "it" is
the
subject of the embedded clause. >>

Well, your first point is pretty obvious, and might've gone withouts stating.
 All the same, I thank you for pointing out my shocking inattention to
detail.  I should be ashamed of myself.  Anyway, as for the second, I defy
you to come up with another example that doesn't contain a question word.  "I
don't know that it is"?  There are a few.  But there is a rule that would
explain this phenomena completely, though it disregards any sort of
Chomskyian structure or any sort of grammar rule.  That is rule is: You can
only elide the conjugated form of the verb "to be" (or "to have") with the
previous noun if something follows it.  I think (haven't thought through it
too hard) that this rule takes care of everything.  Can anyone think up any
counterexamples?

-David

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