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What's with with?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2026

James D. McCawley
James D. McCawley*
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
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Abstract

The absolute construction exemplified by with the bus drivers on strike consists of with plus a constituent that possesses all the characteristics typical of embedded S's, except for having to contain a verb: it serves as a domain for cyclic application of transformations, it serves as a scope for quantifiers and negatives, and its elements do not command elements of the main clause. An analysis of these constituents as underlying S's, subject to optional deletion of be (or of possessional have and its subject) explains why this construction allows adverbs as adjuncts to constituents that normally do not support adverbs. Peculiarities of the distribution of adverbs in the construction support the contention that the NP in with NP PP is an underlying subject of be in some cases, an underlying object of have in others.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 59 , Issue 2 , June 1983 , pp. 271 - 287
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 by Linguistic Society of America

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