Re: Disambiguation of arg ument reference

> >sitting on?"   (The parenthetical phrases are optional.)   However, you
> >can't
> >say, *"I put the book (on the table)", or *"What are you putting on?"--if
> >you
> >said the latter, it could only refer to clothing (or music).   So they
> >are
> >core arguments, even though it can vary (e.g., "on x", "over there",
>"right
> >here", etc.).
>
>Something doesn't seem right here. You can't say *"What are you putting
>on?"
>because you're leaving out an entire argument - the object placed. It is
>perfectly all right to say "What are you putting the book on?" The place
>argument, being core, cannot be dropped, but it can be questioned, dangling
>preposition and all, just like any other argument.
The reason you can't say *"What are you putting on?" is because a question
asks for one specific datum, while you seem to be asking for two. You would
either ask, "On what are you putting the book?" asking for the table, or
"What are you putting on the table?" asking for the book. You cannot ask for
both. That would sound something like *"What are you putting on the what?"
invalid for obvious reasons.

Jake

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