Re: Disambiguation of arg ument reference

From: "Tim May" <butsuri@...>
> Muke Tever writes:
>  > > >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.
>  >
>  > Actually I think you can't do it because "putting on" is a different verb
>  > (meaning 'to don').
>
> Well, can you say "What are you putting into?", which doesn't have
> this problem?
Actually I would read "putting into" as a different verb also (either "put in"
meaning "to dock" or "putt" as in golf, the answer being "the 18th hole").

And don't think this is just being picky... I think that particular structure
_invites_ parsing the verb + preposition as a phrasal verb, and can't admit that
an extra argument is needed in the answer.

It looks kind of like what the pedantic might recast as *"Into what are you
putting?", which is more clearly one-answer-wanted.  If you want more answers
you need more question words.


    *Muke!
--
http://www.frath.net/

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