| Popis: |
As described in current grammars, predicative complements are found in English with copular verbs and complex transitive verbs, and can in both cases denote current or resulting attributes (cf. He was/became interested, They thought/made it a difficult task). Categorially the predicatives are regularly AdjPs or NPs, but the class is standardly extended to include some PPs which are assumed to be syntactically and semantically comparable with the central cases. The present paper examines one of these predicative PPs, the string as + NP, illustrating a use where this phrase is semantically the direct opposite of a resulting attribute, as in He resigned as chairman, They deposed him as king, and considering the problems of interpretation which arise from the potential three-way ambiguity of as + NP. Since such "discontinued attributes" are not found with predicative NPs and AdjPs, and since as + NP in this sense is found in structures where it cannot be analysed as a predicative (cf. He withdrew from his position as chairman, They expelled him from his position as councillor), the new facts presented point to the need for a more deep-going reanalysis of the category of predicatives, which is, however, here left to future work. |
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