Clausal and subclausal

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Beyazgul  #206504  Wed, 15 Mar 06 07:03 PM

im not sure if the negation in the following examples are clausal or subclausal.

can someone please help. and explain.

1-i know nothing about it

2-the culprit was certainly nobody we knew

3-nobody could have argued the case more persuasively

4-he rarely sees her these days.

also im not sure whether the 'not' in the following examples belong syntactically in the superordinate clause or the subordinate one.

it is not working properly.

can someone explain me the diff between the two, then maybe i can do the questions.

thankyou

Beyazgul

  
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paco2004  #206579  Thu, 16 Mar 06 01:40 AM

1. I know nothing about it.
(sub-clausal neg) I know something about other things, though.
2. The culprit was certainly nobody we knew.
(sub-clausal neg) The culprit may be a person people except us know.
3. Nobody could have argued the case more persuasively
(clausal neg)
4. He rarely sees her these days.
(sub-clausal neg) He often saw her last month.
5. It is not working properly.
(sub-clausal neg) It is working, but only improperly.

paco

  
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