Tuesday 14 June 2016

Indeterminacy: Partial Neutralisation

Halliday & Matthiessen (1999: 560-1):
An intermediate degree of specificity, with partial neutralisation, can be seen in the non-finite clause with accompanying preposition, as in they get caught for taking bribes. What happens here is that the fact that there is a connection between the two figures is unequivocally construed by the dependency; but the nature of this connection — what kind of logical relationship is being set up — does not enter the picture.