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Discussion Groups / English Usage / May 2009John recommnded and Mary read the book
Is it correct to say "John recommnded and Mary read the book" to mean "John recommnded the book and Mary read it"? > Is it correct to say "John recommnded and Mary read the book" to mean > "John recommnded the book and Mary read it"? I would say it is correct, but slightly uncomfortable. I would prefer "John recommended the book and Mary read it". PS. Your "e" key sometimes sticks.  SignatureLes (BrE) > Is it correct to say "John recommnded and Mary read the book" to mean > "John recommnded the book and Mary read it"? No. It is unreasonable to expect the reader to jump over "and Mary read" to find the direct object of "recommended". GFH Ray: > Is it correct to say "John recommnded and Mary read the book" to mean > "John recommnded the book and Mary read it"? Is it true to say "John recommended and Ray read the book"? "The Syntactic Phenomena of English" and "Everything That Linguists Have Always Wanted to Know about Logic - But Were Ashamed to Ask", both by James D. McCawley. SignatureJohn > Ray: > [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > -- > John Yup. I have recommended and read both of those. Classics. Jim calls the phenomenon "Conjunction Reduction", one of a number of things that can happen to reduce a coordinate sentence by eliminating repetitions. My favorite is Gapping, which produces Bill ordered steak and Mary fish. but not *Bill steak and Mary ordered fish. though that's the preferred order in Japanese. That's because Japanese is left-branching and English is right-. -John Lawler http://www.umich.edu/~jlawler/McCawley-Lg.pdf "When you hear a linguist use the word 'theory' you should put your hand on your wallet." -- James D. McCawley >Is it correct to say "John recommnded and Mary read the book" to mean >"John recommnded the book and Mary read it"? Yes. Although it's unusual to order the word that way, there are times when one wants to do it, and when it's good to do. I've both read and written sentences like that, maybe when "book" or whatever paralleled it was mentioned in the previous sentence, or when the goal was to emphasize the sequence of events. But I don't recall for sure what made me or the other person write it that way. I hope you will develop enough feel for the language that you know when to use it. For critics, how about, Joe trapped, Laurie killed, Jim plucked, Nancy cooked, and Steve sliced the turkey. SignaturePosters should say where they live, and for which area they are asking questions. I have lived in Western Pa. 10 years Indianapolis 10 years Chicago 6 years Brooklyn, NY 12 years Baltimore 26 years >>Is it correct to say "John recommnded and Mary read the book" to mean >>"John recommnded the book and Mary read it"? [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] >For critics, how about, Joe trapped, Laurie killed, Jim plucked, >Nancy cooked, and Steve sliced the turkey. To follow-up my own post, here's an example more likely to be seen than the one I made up. John hires and Steve fires most of our lackluster employees. I earn and she spends the money in this family. In the OP's example at the top, no context is given for the sentence. But if the previous sentence were, "The process of the book through the family was interesting" or any number of other possible sentences, the OP's sentence would not even attract notice. SignaturePosters should say where they live, and for which area they are asking questions. I have lived in Western Pa. 10 years Indianapolis 10 years Chicago 6 years Brooklyn, NY 12 years Baltimore 26 years > Is it correct to say "John recommnded and Mary read the book" to mean > "John recommnded the book and Mary read it"? No, it isn't correct. It's correct to say, "John recommended the book, and Mary read it," or "John recommended the book to Mary, and she read it." > Is it correct to say "John recommnded and Mary read the book" to mean > "John recommnded the book and Mary read it"? Yes, it is (though the second version is more idiomatic). Interestingly, although you can't do it the other way (*"John recommended the book and Mary read") in prose or speech, you can (or could) in poetry. Writing of misers in his "Epistle to Bathurst", Pope says "Damn'd to the mines, an equal fate betides The slave that digs it, and the slave that hides." [it = gold] Peter Groves |
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