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SUBJECT‐VERB CONCORD IN EQUATIVE SENTENCES IN ENGLISH 1
Author(s) -
Jacobsson Bengt
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
studia linguistica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.187
H-Index - 28
eISSN - 1467-9582
pISSN - 0039-3193
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9582.1990.tb00803.x
Subject(s) - subject (documents) , predicative expression , plural , linguistics , verb , complement (music) , computer science , psychology , philosophy , biochemistry , chemistry , complementation , library science , gene , phenotype
This paper discusses subject assignment and subject‐verb concord in equative sentences, especially ‘pseudo‐clefts’ like What All we need are books and What All that remains to be settled are the prices. Plural concord in such cases is traditionally explained as due to the potential plurality of what or to the ‘attraction’ exerted by the postverbal NP which is routinely taken to be a predicative complement. According to the view defended in this study, the postverbal NP is the real subject and as such ‘attractive’ enough to override the otherwise very strong association between subjecthood and preverbal position.