Re: ``If you don't want it, there are other nations who will''
- From: "Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 1 Dec 2006 15:23:36 -0800
Aidan Kehoe wrote:
Ar an chéad lá de mí na Nollaig, scríobh Ron Hardin:
> A Get Smart episode, Oct 16 1965
>
> ``You can have the plans for the invisibility ray for ten million
> dollars. If you don't want it, there are other nations who will.''
>
> http://rhhardin.home.mindspring.com/smartwill.ram
>
> It sounded bad to me to the point of making no sense.
>
> I'm not sure what ellipsis rule it is. do/will, main verb vs rel clause
> verb, negation repeated without the negation, but something disattaches
> ``will'' from ``want'' enough to leave me puzzled.
It works fine for me. (First language English, possibly not American enough
for you.)
It was written by an American (quite possibly Mel Brooks himself) and
spoken by an American in an American spoof of "The Man from
U.N.C.L.E.," which was an American spoof of the earliest James Bond
movies.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with it; Ron, not being a native
speaker of English (or, it would seem, of any other language),
apparently does not realize that "do-support" is required for a
present-tense verb, but not when another auxiliary is present (such as
"will" signaling futurity).
.
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