Re: infinitive vs. -ing complements

In article
<verbivore-259C49.17342519032007@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Keith GOERINGER <verbivore@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Any others? I'd really like to hear from non-native speakers, to see
how you learned or were taught these things. If it is, as Joe suggests,
mainly a question of more or less rote memorization, so be it. But the
linguist in me hopes there is some internal logic that I'm just not
seeing clearly...

Here's some more data to mull over:

I remembered/recalled locking the door.
I remembered/*recalled to lock the door.

I continued/kept running.
I continued/*kept to run.

I prefer/favor washing dishes.
I prefer/*favor to wash dishes.

I hate/detest cleaning toilets.
I hate/*detest to clean toilets.

I tried/*strived learning French.
I tried/strived to learn French.

I simulated/*pretended speaking French.
I *simulated/pretended to speak French.

There may be some underlying overall pattern, but I'm skeptical. I
think there is possibly a meaning difference between the different
verbal complements, but I can't easily articulate it, and I don't
think it's predictable which main verbs allow those differences to be
expressed. In general, subcategorization is arbitrary.

Even if it turned out to be possible in this case to predict the
syntactic pattern from the semantics of the main verbs, I think it
would be incredibly difficult to make such a pattern clear in an EFL
setting.

They're better off just memorizing which words take -ing, which ones
take infinitives, and which can take both, just as they have to
memorize most other kinds of subcategorization.

Nathan

--
Nathan Sanders
Linguistics Program
Williams College
http://wso.williams.edu/~nsanders/

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: infinitive vs. -ing complements
    ... mainly a question of more or less rote memorization, ... I tried/*strived learning French. ... There may be some underlying overall pattern, ... In general, subcategorization is arbitrary. ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: IM PICKING FED
    ... going into the French that I haven`t seen in the last 3 years... ... Nadal played well but in spots and that is also a pattern ... counter hitting brillance... ... I don't konw about you but when a player ...
    (rec.sport.tennis)
  • Re: Wonder how long theyll think Waynker is funny
    ... there's a pattern or anything. ... just stick with the facts. ... An interesting leap of reasoning. ... You said the French won because they cheated. ...
    (rec.sport.rugby.union)
  • Re: History of French
    ... >be repeated before the brain treats it as a pattern. ... memorization, but by understanding. ... are those of the Statistics Department or of Purdue University. ... Herman Rubin, Department of Statistics, Purdue University ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Movie on tv
    ... Ah, I'm detecting a pattern. ... That I enjoy french? ... Jim Heckman ...
    (soc.motss)