Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1994. [Vol. 2.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 22)

STUDIES - Csaba Czeglédi: On the Distribution of Infinitival and Gerundive Complements in English

(21) He is travelling in Yorkshire. (22) He is travelling to Leeds (orfrom Halifax)." (Their original numbers are [1] and [2], respectively, cf. ibid., 480—81.) Even more interesting from the present perspective is the observation that "sentence (21) [1] seems to give equal weight to what he is doing (travelling) and where he is doing it (in Yorkshire)

, whereas sentence (22) [2] seems to give weight only to the direction: 'Where is he travelling to/from?' 'Where is he going (to)?' 'Where is he coming from?' This is confirmed both by the plausibility of the paraphrases {go, come

) and by the absence of an acceptable question: (23) *What is he doing from Halifax? Travelling? beside: (24) What is he doing in Yorkshire? Travelling?" (Cf. ibid., 481.) This means in terms of the implicit contrasts expressed that an important aspect of the meaning of (21) is the contrast implied between 'is travelling in Yorkshire', or probably more accurately 'travel in Yorkshire', on the one hand and 'doing/do something else' on the other, i.e., some or any other activity he might be engaged in. By the same token, an important aspect of the meaning of (22) is the contrast implied between 'to Leeds/from Halifax' and some or any other place he could be traveling to/from. Thus, the position adverbial seems to be special among place adverbials in that it signals a different implicit set: the goal or source adverbial in (22) appears to invoke an implied set of goals or sources, with the agent and activity expressed in the sentence being kept constant, whereas the position adverbial in (21) does not appear to signal an implicit set of possible positions but a set of activities (with or without the position being kept constant). It is significant in this respect that the activity cannot even be elicited in (22) by a question keeping the agent and the place constant (cf. the ungrammaticality of the question in (23) above), but it can in (21), with or without the place kept constant (cf. the grammatical question in (24)). 22