Extra be
The syntax of shared shell-noun constructions in English
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11111370 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Diane Massam (0000-0003-4413-8418, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 93 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 121-152 |
| Publication date | 2017-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Language (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0097-8507 • E-ISSN: 1535-0665 |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1353/lan.2017.0004 |
| OpenAlex | W2601805248 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 35 |
This article examines the syntax of extra be constructions, common in nonprescriptive English and often considered a curiosity, such as: The problem is, is that she hates apples. It has been claimed that there are many different types of extra be constructions, with the two main types being double be and single be , but this article argues that these distinctions are largely superficial. The article reviews previous accounts, presents the complex data, and categorizes most cases of extra be into one unified syntactic construction, the SHARED SHELL-NOUN CONSTRUCTION. It is argued that such constructions are syntactically fairly ordinary biclausal specificational copular sentences, consisting of a setup clause and a resolution clause, which share an argument. A second construction is also proposed for one subset of examples, the LINKING FOCUS BE CONSTRUCTION, where be lexicalizes a left-peripheral focus head
Argument (complex analysis) · Construction Grammar · Ellipsis (linguistics) · Focus (optics) · Head (geology) · Linguistics · Noun · Noun phrase · Physics · Resolution (logic) · Shell (structure) · Syntax · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Philosophy · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
Foundational Issues in Linguistic Theory
The Variability of Current World Englishes
Grammaticalization as Economy
English Abstract Nouns as Conceptual Shells
Studies on Copular Sentences, Clefts and Pseudo-Clefts
The Raising of Predicates
Syntactic Change
Connectedness and binary branching
Cohesion in English
Information Structure and Sentence Form
Advances in Written Text Analysis
Comparative Syntax and Language Acquisition
Lectures on Government and Binding
Cognitive Linguistics in the Redwoods
The Remarkable Double Is
Given two be’s, how do they Agree
There Was a Farmer Had a Dog
“The thing is, is” Is No Mere Disfluency
The That’s X is Y Construction as an Information-Structure Amalgam
Information Structure and Discourse Function of Amalgam Wh-Clefts
To be or double be? Current changes in the English copula
Impersonal Passives and the Unaccusative Hypothesis
A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles
Non-canonical agreement in copular clauses
The Reduplicative Copulais Is
CPs
The Syntax of Appositive Relativization
On the Nature of Merge
Pseudocleft Connectedness
On the Topic of Pseudoclefts
Small clause results
A framework for the analysis of cleft constructions
Predication and Equation
A Comparison of Wh-Clefts and it-Clefts in Discourse
Information status and Word Order
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |