Syntax Table 3.6. Reciprocals in ARCHER corpus Number of individuals referred to by antecedent Each other One another Number of individuals referred to by antecedent 2 >2 indet. 2 >2 indet. 1700-99 32 24 18 14 16 9 1800-99 43 22 8 12 5 2 1900- 36 14 3 3 4 3 total 111 60 29 25 j-/^., IDENTIFY oneself with sth. (1970: 213). Visser has a great deal of mat- erial in his (1963-73: sections 158,162, 426-^91). Here is a contrasting pair of a slightly different kind: (352) a. when the tale was silently forming itself (PEarly 1849 Gaskell, Letters 42 p. 74) b. The tale was formed (ibid.) The reciprocal pronouns each other and one another are said by Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech & Svartvik to be undifferentiated in use, though they are more common in informal and formal style, respectively (1985: 6.31). The prescriptive tradition prefers each other for reference to two and one another for more than two, though there is very little evidence of such a division in the ARCHER corpus. Once indeterminate examples have been discounted from table 3.6, the distribution reveals no significant correlation for any of the three centuries surveyed, and only a slight cor- relation (significant at the 10 per cent level) if the whole 300-year span is taken together. 3.4.2.3 Indirect objects and indirect passives Definition of indirect object is notoriously difficult. Syntactically it tend s to precede a direct object, and semantically it 'typically refers to an animate being that is the recipient of the action' (Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech & Svartvik 1985: 10.7). Many indirect objects commute with prepositional phrases headed by to or for. The indirect object, (353), shades off into what in older stages of the language can be called an ethic dative or dative of (dis)advantage, (354). There appears to have been a reduction in the range of both. The following examples illustrate usages now obsolescent or at least disfavoured in BrE (though (353b) is the norm in AmerE): 217 Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008 David Denison (353) a. repeat her some of your own Verses (1777 Sheridan, SchoolforScandal Li 370.11) b. (— 133a) I intended to have been at Chichester this Wednesday - but on account of this sore throat I wrote him (Brown) my excuse yesterday (1818 Keats, Utters 98 p. 257 (Dec.)) c. My latest Valueless Villanelle I enclose you. (1890 Dowson, Letters 100 p. 150 (1 Jun.)) (354) a. It shews that TILBURINAIS coming; nothing introduces you a heroine like soft musick. (1779 (1781) Sheridan, Criticlln 529.10) b. If there were one man who^would carryyou a medical reform and another who would oppose it (1871-2 George Eliot, Middlemarch xlvi.466) c. Could I hear them their lessons & take walks with them while the Governess is away? (1873 Amberley Papers 11.552 (25 Jul.)) Examples like the following illustrate the difficulty of delimiting the indi- rect object, as they could plausibly be included with either of the preced- ing sets of data: (355) a. (= 289) (I have it not by me, or I would copy you the exact passage) (1848 Gaskell, Mary Barton v.62) b. and I was foolish enough to think he meant me marriage (ibid, xxxii.303) Throughout our period the indirect passive has been widely used: (356) a. and so Tm to be given the go-by for any town friend of yours who turns up and chooses to patronise us! (1893 Pinero, Second Mrs. Tanqueray Il.ii, in 19c Plays, ed. Booth 11.292 [ARCHER]) b. I have, as indeed I ought to have, with the opportunities I am given, a growing sense of mastery in my own work (1917 Bell, Letters 11.416 (29 Jun.)) A long-term process of extension of the indirect passive can be illustrated within the present century by the fact that four out of five possibilities tentatively rejected by Jespersen (1909—49: III 309) — for example, He was sent a note — were accepted as fully normal by Strang some sixty years later (1970: 99). Meanwhile some passives already acceptable in colloquial or non-standard speech have become increasingly frequent in writing as the 218 Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008 Syntax bonds of the prescriptive tradition have been loosened. It is unclear to what extent the indirect passive was — and is — consciously avoided by careful stylists. Jespersen quotes one eminent editor who did (1909-49: III 309-10). The following examples may show deliberate avoidance: (357) a. Can you lend me 30£ for a short time? — ten I want for myself — and twenty for a friend — which will be repaid me by the middle of next Month (1818 Keats, Letters 103 p. 272 (24 Dec.)) b. Mark found it impossible at the moment to make any remark upon what had been told him (1860-1 Trollope, Framley viii.73) c. He had fallen into the possession of a fine property he had been endowed with more than average gifts of intellect; never-failing health had been given to him, and a vision fairly clear in discerning good from evil (ibid, xxvii.266) One expedient for avoiding the indirect passive is the construction sometimes known as the HAVE passive: (358) a. How then are these sparks which are God to have identity given them - . . . ? (1819 Keats, Letters 123 p. 335 (Apr.)) b. [Miss Bronte] possesses a strong feeling of responsibility for the Gift, which she has given her. (1850 Gaskell, Utters 78 p. 128 {c. 25 Aug.)) c. She has a beautiful set of pearls, value I don't know how much, given her. (1852 ibid. 133 p. 200 (21 Sep.)) d. I was always having compliments paid me (1904 Nesbit, Phoenix H35) (358') a. How then are these sparks which are God to be given identity ? b. the Gift, which she is given/has been given. c. She is given/has been given a beautiful set of pearls 67 d. I was always being paid compliments. In Denison (1993a: 342—3) I suggested that the passive of experience (Ihad my car stolen) is essentially the same construction; see also Brinton (1994). There is some discussion in Visser (1963—73: sections 2118,1964(3)), who in my view unnecessarily confuses the HAVE passive {I had a present given me) with an agentive construction, causative HAVE (I had my house painted). The HAVE passive dates back to the ME period. It is unclear whether it has become any less frequent as avoidance of the indirect passive becomes less necessary. 219 Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008 David Denison 3.4.2.4 Prepositional objects and prepositional passives The term preposition stranding is applied to constructions which leave a preposition in a deferred position without any immediately following object. Where there is a choice between 'pied-piping' a preposition together with its object to a fronted position, 68 as for instance in the inter- rogative clause of (359), and stranding it, (359'), there has been a prefer- ence for the pied-piped pattern in more formal usage: (359) You know to what I allude (1862 Green, Utters 96 (24 Jul.)) (359') You know what I allude to Since the stranding constructions are actually older, this reflects a change from above. No new constructions have appeared in IModE, but the frequency of prepositio n stranding has probably increased, and some prepositions begin to permit it which previously would have resisted it even in informal speech: (360) There are two kinds of geniuses, the 'ordinary' and the 'magicians'. An ordinary genius is a fellow that you and I would be just as good as, if we were only many times better. (1985 Mark Kac, Enigmas of Chance xxv, quoted Gleick, Genius 10) One notable environment for preposition stranding is the prepositional passive. Here too the trend has been to permit passivisation more and more widely. Here are some examples of simple prepositional passives which push against the limits of tolerability: (361) a. In protracted expectation of the weather clearing up, the last evening paper from London was read and re-read every inc h of the carpet was walked <wwith similar perseverance, the windows were looked out of 2X[ kinds of topics of conversation were started, and failed (1836-7 Dickens, Pickwick li.784) b. but I wd rather do without [original emphasis] trustees, IF possible. Mr Shaen suggested some way in whh they might be done without (1865 Gaskell, Utters 581 p. 770 (?31 Aug.)) Example (361a) is deliberately contrived by Dickens to convey the frustra- tion of the party, since the passive prototypically suggests an active in which somebody actually does something. The now quite unremarkable passive of the prepositional verb DO without in (361b) is only given as 'modern', thus c. 1893-7, in OED s.v. do v. B.41, and as twentieth century in Visser (1963-73: section 1957). 220 Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008 Syntax And here are some complex prepositional passives, including some — examples (362) — involving phrasal-prepositional verbs, those that consist of verb + adverbial particle + preposition: (362) a. (= 253a) but that objection is done away with (1818 Keats, Utters 66 p. 146 (21 May)) & perhaps things might begot on with. (1863 Gaskell, Utters 524 p. 703 (1 Jun.)) a notion got about that I had been bolted away with. (1917 Conrad, LardJim, author's note) I don't like being hung up on (1980 Yale Udoff, Bad Timing [film dialogue]) This agreement was not made a legal instrument ^because (1823 C. Sheridan, letter m Sheridan 1.15 (20 Dec.)) after a substantial lunch had been done ample justice to (1836-7 Dickens, Pickwick xxx.449) boy said he wouldn't lie there to be made game of, and he'd tell his mother if they didn't begin (ibid, xxxii.482) 'He must be done something with, brother Ned ' (1838-9 Dickens, Nickleby xxxv.456) Little Dorrit was glad to be found no fault with, and to see that Fanny was pleased (1855-7 Dickens, Little Dorrit II.iii.450) we could be beat up, we could be done anything to and no one was on our side. (1977 French, Women's Room (Sphere, 1978) IV.iii.295) Jespersen describes (363d) as 'not quite natural' (1909-49: III. 317), but the process of forming a prepositional passive is perfectly natural when the NP which thereby becomes subject has an appropriate semantic role. 3.4.2.5 Group-verbs I use the term group-verb for a multi-word lexical item with verbal function. We have already implicitly dealt with prepositional verbs — those consisting of a verb + preposition — in their capacity for a passive turn. A prepositional verb like LOOK at is to be distinguished from a transitive phrasal verb like "LOOK, up - verb + adverbial particle - by a well-known battery of tests: (364) a. She looked (carefully) at the book. b. **She looked the book at. c. She looked at it/**it at. d. (the book) at which she looked b. c. d. (363) a. b. c. d. e. f. 221 Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008 David Denison Table 3.7. Group-verbs in PDE Direct Prepositional Second Class Label object object particle Examples 1 intransitive phrasal - - - EAT OUt, WISE Up verb 2 transitive phrasal + - - CLEAN Sth. OUt, MESS verb sth. up 3 prepositional verb - + - INSIST OH Sth., DE AL with sth. 4 phrasal-prepositional - + + HANG Up On sk, GET verb away with sth. 5 + + + TAKE sth. out on sk, PUT sth. over on sk 6 + + - TAKE sk for sth., SUSPECT sk of sth. 7 - - + (COME on over, GET back in) 8 + - + GET sth. over with, (READ sth. back out) (365) a. She looked (**carefully) up the number. b. She looked the number up. c. She looked ?**up it/it up. d. **(the book) up which she looked For further details see Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech & Svartvik (1985: 16.2—6). I have suggested elsewhere a simple classification of verb-particle combinations in PDE (Denison 1981,1984), reproduced as table 3.7, with classes 1-4 the most important - and having widely recognised names - and 7—8 fairly marginal. The individual histories of group-verbs are largely matters of lexis, outside the scope of this chapter, though it is perhaps appropriate to note the growth of patterns of formation. Thus, for example, LOOK out is recorded in literal sense from 1390 and figuratively from 1602; in our period we first find WATCH out (1786), MIND out (1886), LISTEN out (1910), also KEEP an eye out (1889), the latter reinforced by reanalysis of KEEP a look-out (Denison 1981: 162-3; dates from OED). The rise of the phrasal verb (classes 1 and 2) has not been uninterrupted. Here are some combinations which have fallen out of use again: 222 Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008 Syntax (366) a. Hallo! What's goingforward? [— PDE going on] (1836-7 Dickens, Pickwick vii.94, sim viii.113, etc.) b. You have been bred up [= PDE brought up, bred] in the country. (ibid, xxxix.613) c. and shrugging up [— PDE shrugging^ his shoulders with a constant succession of bows (ibid, xxxv.542) d. And, oh, have you mended up [= PDE mended] all the old pens in the study? (1840 Bulwer-Lytton, Money Li p. 166) e. said she, hastily checking herself up [= PDE checking as if she were afraid of having admitted too much (1851-3 Gaskell, CranfordxiA06) But on the whole this is one kind of construction which does appear to be increasing in numbers and frequency. The phrasal-prepositional verb (class 4) has been gaining ground. Those in (367) had not long been in use, as far as I know — though right from the start of our period, it had been possible colloquially to add away at to most intransitive verbs, e.g. 1774 railed away at in OED s.v. tar 1 and many exam- ples thereafter: (367) a. I have not been able to do anything more but will^ away at it on my return. (1890 Dowson, Letters 106 p. 156 (27 Jun.)) b. \ she had a father that was always beating up on her, she had to get out of the house ' (1977 French, Women's Room (Sphere, 1978) II.ix.225) One noticeable change in IModE is that the phrasal-prepositional verb (class 4) has moved in on the territory of the transitive phrasal verb (class 2). This is in fact a fairly systematic process of replacement, or at least suppletion, which has been going on for hundreds of years: compare PUT up 'endure' (1573) -> PUT up with (1755). One effect is to lessen the transitivity of the group-verb; thus, for example, BEAT up on need not signify actual physical attack, whereas BEAT up almost always does. I give some IModE examples, with the dates of earliest attestation that I have been able to find, in table 3.8. Somewhat conversely, RUN over started off as a class 3 prepositional verb (RUN over(sth./sb.)), and with reference to road accidents increasingly func- tions as a class 2 phrasal verb (RUN (sb.) over). The reanalysis is favoured by the resultativeness typical of class 2; see Parker (1976). Certain formations of one class can be seen as deriving from another class by a systematic process of ellipsis. Ellipsis of a direct object with a 223 Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008 David Denison Table 3.8. Spread of phrasal-prepositional verb (class 4) Class 2 Class 4 GET (sth.) away 'succeed in removing' CATCH (sth.) up 'overtake' CHECK (sth.) up CUT (sth.) down 'reduce' BEAT (sb.) up FOLLOW (sth.) through 'pursue to conclusion' c. 1375 GET away with (sth.) 1878 1855 CATCH up to (sth.) 1888 CATCH up with (sb.) 1909 1889 CHECK up on (sth.) 1921 1857 CUT down on (sth.) 1939 1907 BEAT up on (sb.) 1971 1934 FOLLOW through on (sth.) 1981 class 2 phrasal verb gives class 1: LAY off (ones hands) (P1.467) —> lay off 'desist' (1908); WIND (sth.) up 'conclude, sum up' (1583) —> class 1 intran- sitive (1825). Ellipsis of a prepositional object with class 3 likewise gives a class 1 verb: DO without (sth.) (c. 1410) —> class 1 intransitive (1779). From class 6 we get class 2: p UT (sb.) out of the way 'disturb, inconvenience, trouble' (1673)/PUT (sb.)outof his humor(1701)/PUT (sb.)outof allpatience (17 r 63) —> PUT (sb.) out 'annoy' (1822)/'inconvenience' (1839). Not uncommonly, earlier usage had an ordinary transitive verb — or perhaps omission of a preposition (Phillipps 1970: 152) - where PDE prefers a prepositional verb: 69 (368) a. Enter SERVANT and Whispers [- PDE whispers to] SIR PETER. (1777 Sheridan, School for Scandal Il.ii 382.19) b. There was nothing to be done, however, but to submit quietly, and hope [= PDE hope for] the best. (1816 Austen, Mansfield Park III.v[xxxvi].356) c. Sir Joseph Banks joked [= PDE teased] her about Otoroo. (1789 Mrs. Piozzi, fourn. France II. 28 [OBIJ]) d. 'Have you quite recovered [— PDE recoveredfrom] that scoundrel's attack?' (1838-9 Dickens, Nickleby xxxiv.435) The converse may also occur: (369) a. a place near Rivington which I just glimpsed at [= PDE glimpsed] lately (1838 Gaskell, Letters 12 p. 32 (18 Aug.)) b. Yet he would not acknowledge to [= PDE acknowledge] any ailment. (1848 Gaskell, Mary Barton xii. 148) 224 Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008 Syntax Compare too BrE PROTEST at/against (sth.) - current since the seventeenth century — with a twentieth-century use in AmerE of pROTE sT (sth.) in the same sense of 'make formal objection to'. Verb-particle combinations are by no means the only types of group- verb. Strang (1970:101) suggests that various other kinds developed rapidly from about 1800: she mentions the HAVE ^ try, TAKE ^ look type (lists in Visser 1963-73: section 151), the LAUGH onesthanks, GROPE one sway type (the latter item a litde later), and the FALL flat, COME in useful type. Many kinds of group-verb can be regarded as variants of the types classified in table 3.7, with a particle replaced by an element of another category. Thus GO had, TAKE place are like class 1, MAKE clear, PUT righthke class 2, GET to grips with, PUT paid to, s T o P short ^TAKE advantage 0/like class 4, LA Y (sb.) low with (sth.), MAKE (sb.) aware of (sth.) like class 5, CATCH (sb.) up shortX&Le class 8. One indication of the productive power of certain group-verb patterns is the history of GET rid of and LET go of. For the first we can imagine a historical chain of derivation of the following sort: (370) a. Fate rid me of that nuisance. b. I was rid of that nuisance. c. I got rid ['became free'] of that nuisance. d. I got rid of ['removed 5 ] that nuisance. e. That nuisance was got rid of. For the second, perhaps (371) a. I let the reins go. b. I let go. (elliptical) c. I let go of the reins. d. The reins were let go of. Whatever the precise details, the histories are evidendy different - after all, on e contains a past participle, the other an infinitive — but the outcome has been two new group-verbs of very similar syntactic behaviour and rhythmic shape. And not long after LET go of is recorded in the middle of the nineteenth century comes the variant LEAVE go (of) (OED s.w. let v. 1 24b, leave v. x 13b). 3.4.2.6 Indefinite, anticipatory and anaphoric // Indefinite // has long been used as object with transitive verbs, (372), with verbs otherwise intransitive, (373), and with verbs formed — sometimes for the nonce, sometimes more permanendy—from adjectives and nouns, (374): 225 Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008 David Denison a. No, that which pleases me, is to think what work I'll make when I get to London; for when I am a wife and a Lady both, I'cod I'll flaunt it with the best of 'em. (1777 (1781) Sheridan, Scarborough IV.i 602.21) b. There's a comment on human vanity for you! Why, blast it, I was under the impression that (1863 Twain, Selected Utters, ed. Neider p. 48 (19 Aug.) [ARCHER]) a. When I saw him taking his aim and preparing to draw the trigger, I turned round my back, not being able to stand it, (1828 Moir, Life of Mamie Wauch xiv.88 [ARCHER]) b. a Saracenic town, built when folk had just been crusading it and thought of nothing but the Taynim Soldan Saladin' (1838 Gaskell, Utters 9 p. 16 (17 Jul.)) c. The Zeppelin kept a few miles in the rear of us, and finally hopped it. (1915 Scotsman 13 Jan. 1/3 [OED\) a. /'ve [original emphasis] been used to rough it— before we came into our fortune. (1863 Taylor, Ticket-of-leave man Il.i, in 19cplays, ed. Booth 11.99 [ARCHER]) b. . . They can tram //home.' (1904 Nesbit, Phoenixx.202) Sometimes indefinite // appears to be virtually empty of meaning, pace Bolinger (1977), or its reference may be merely vague and contextually deter- mined. Visser gives a good selection of examples and points out that 'the number of instances rapidly increases' in ModE (1963-73: sections 496-9). Indefinite //has it in common with particle group-verbs (3.4.2.5 above) that both can among other things be a means of deriving a verb from another part of speech (cf. ROUGH //, ROUGH (sth.) out). The two often combine, with //either the direct object, (375), or the prepositional object, (376), of a group-verb in a (more or less) fixed idiom: (375) a. Lieutenant Thumhill is really livin' it up\ (1951 San Francisco Examiner"14 Feb. 12 [OED\) b. There's nothing for it but brazening it out. (1839 Planche, Garrick Feverp. 75 [ARCHER]) c. Meanwhile he's having trouble getting it together and lives off the SS [sc. Social Security]. (1975 New Society 20 Nov. 412/3 [OED\) d. He 6 had it in' for more than one of the people who helped the police. (1888 'R. Boldrewood', Robbery Under Arms II.xviii.283 [OED\) e. Figure I might as well sign up tomorrow and get it over with. (1947 R. Allen, Home Made Banners iii. 18 [OED\) (372) (373) (374) 226 Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008 [...]... in (44 2) and (44 8)) It is the one type effectively confined to main clause use The main change in second person imperatives has been the disuse of the pattern with subject pronounyou or thou after a positive imperative verb, and the rise of an alternative withyou before the verb (Of course, nonexpression of the subject pronoun has remained another and indeed far commoner option, and this, together... with you neither (1816 Austen, Mansfield Park I.iii.29) r In (42 5a) the speaker is Sir Oliver Surface, one of the few entirely admirable characters in the play; it may perhaps be significant, though, that he is an elderly ex-colonial Within just a few decades, the usage of (42 5b) is part of 2 43 Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008 David Denison the characterisation of Lady Bertram... (44 8e) has disappeared, just like the similar negative interrogative, (43 9d) (The combined use of DO andjw^in type (44 8e) does not seem to have the politely contrastive effect that it had in positive imperatives.) I have not come across type (44 8d) The interaction of D O and imperative verbs differs in important ways from the behaviour of D O in NICE contexts (cf 3.3.8.5 above and see Warner 1985: 48 —9)... little together Focusing adverbials like even, also should, in the prescriptive tradition, stand at the front or end of their NP when they are logically NP-modifiers, as in (41 8): (41 8) a Most of her foibles also were made known to Margaret, but not all (1 848 Gaskell, Mary Barton v.65) b Oh don't bother about the carpet I've sold even that (19 04 Nesbit, Phoenix iv. 94) Increasingly, however, they tend... explanation undermined by the many nineteenth-century examples like (44 7) In negative imperatives there are equivalents of at least three of the five positive variants: (44 8) a b c d e Go not away Do not/don't go away ?Go you not away ?**You go not away Do not/don't thou/you go away Type (44 8a) survives only in proverbs and maxims and in archaic style (Visser 1963-73: section 144 7), and (44 8c) is rare in IModE... a recent Americanism in BrE (19 64: 141 ) Certainly that position is rare in nineteenth-century British English, though examples like (41 6) cast doubt on the novelty of the usage, unless all — like (41 6e) — involve emphatic stress on the auxiliary: (41 6) a He neverdoes appear in the least above his Profession, or out of humour with it (1815 Austen, Letters 116 p 43 3 ( 24 Nov.)) b mention to Brown that... moved further beyond the verb if it is 'heavy' in content and/or phonological form: (41 1) a We are having here the most terrible March weather imaginable (1866 Longfellow, LettersV35 (10 Mar.) [ARCHER]) b With that wonderfully fascinating quiet voice of his he expounded to us the most terrible of allphilosophies, the philosophy of power, preached to us the most marvellous of all gospels, the gospel of gold... loss of thou, has destroyed any remaining differences between 2 SG and 2 PL imperatives.) Thus in earlier usage the plain imperative, (44 2a), could be reinforced by do, by thou/you, or by both: (44 2) a b c d e Go away Do go away Go thou/you away You go away Do thou/you go away Types (44 2a, b) have been available probably throughout the recorded history of English and hardly need exemplification: (44 3)... (19 94: 281, etc.) However, examples are readily found through the nineteenth century and even into the twentieth (see Visser 1963-73: sections 1796,18 94) : (389) a he seemed watching her intently (1816 Austen, Emma III.v[xli] 346 ) b there was such a fine swell of the sea that the columns seem'd m//gimmediatly out of the waves (1819 Keats, Letters 156 p 41 1 (?18 Sep.)) c And now the mists and the. .. New Scientist 1 849 : 28 (28 Nov.)) a I like hearing details but missQ like the children [,] not having (?18 54 Gaskell, Letters 177 p 263) the dinner specified[.] 5 (42 9) 244 Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008 Syntax b 'I do Jane not being cross I've nobody to fight with.' (1 949 Streatfeild, Painted Garden v .46 ) Here a negative implicit in the semantics of the higher verb D . shades off into what in older stages of the language can be called an ethic dative or dative of (dis)advantage, (3 54) . There appears to have been a reduction in the range of both. The following. group-verb patterns is the history of GET rid of and LET go of. For the first we can imagine a historical chain of derivation of the following sort: (370) a. Fate rid me of that nuisance among other things be a means of deriving a verb from another part of speech (cf. ROUGH //, ROUGH (sth.) out). The two often combine, with //either the direct object, (375), or the prepositional