[developers] on-line demo / simple sentence

[Guy Emerson]

I agree that case is plausibly ellipsis, but what about:

"Is he still working on that building?"
"No, it's done."

Or:

"Is he still fitting the windows in that building?"
"No, in fact the whole building is done."

2018-04-09 17:32 GMT+01:00 Emily M. Bender <ebender at uw.edu>:

> “Is he still working on that building?”
> “No, he’s done.”
>
> On Mon, Apr 9, 2018 at 9:29 AM Guy Emerson <gete2 at cam.ac.uk> wrote:
>
>> "The new building is done"
>>
>> The ellipsis would have to be something like:
>>
>> "The new building is done being built"
>>
>> But this sounds awkward to me.  Maybe "done" and "finished" pattern with
>> adjectives that can't take a complement:
>>
>> "The new building is ready/complete"
>>
>>
>> 2018-04-09 14:19 GMT+01:00 Ann Copestake <aac10 at cl.cam.ac.uk>:
>>
>>> my intuition is that there's no ellipsis - I don't know how to test
>>> that, though
>>>
>>> On 09/04/18 14:02, Emily M. Bender wrote:
>>>
>>> I think it's more than just saying that it's optional though --- I think
>>> the meaning Paul was looking for there involves ellipsis, which probably
>>> isn't get enabled for "done", "finished", and whatever else goes into that
>>> class.
>>>
>>> Emily
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sat, Apr 7, 2018 at 12:34 AM, Ann Copestake <aac10 at cl.cam.ac.uk>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> is it just that `done' as an adjective is in the ERG as requiring a
>>>> complement and should be allowed to appear without one?  as in "the chicken
>>>> is done" etc  So a matter of a modification to a lexical entry.  (I admit I
>>>> am emailing without checking ...)
>>>>
>>>> All best,
>>>>
>>>> Ann
>>>>
>>>> On 06/04/2018 23:21, paul at haleyai.com wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Thanks Olga and Woodley.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I understood the passive but had not considered “X did him”!   The
>>>> others, to the best of my knowledge, leave X as the subject (not ARG2 or
>>>> ARG3), no??
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> You are correct regarding what I expected Woodley and it may not be in
>>>> the ERG.  The top parse for “he is done cooking” has him as the subject
>>>> (with some interesting variations).
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I understood the possibility that some unspecified agent was doing
>>>> something to him (as in one interpretation of “he is done cooking”) and
>>>> would have been impressed to see some “unknown” in the MRS to that effect.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> At least I can make sense of this interpretation now, even though I was
>>>> hoping for something else.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Thanks again,
>>>>
>>>> Paul
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> *From:* Woodley Packard <sweaglesw at sweaglesw.org>
>>>> <sweaglesw at sweaglesw.org>
>>>> *Sent:* Friday, April 6, 2018 6:04 PM
>>>> *To:* paul at haleyai.com
>>>> *Cc:* developers <developers at delph-in.net> <developers at delph-in.net>
>>>> *Subject:* Re: [developers] on-line demo / simple sentence
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> As Olga pointed out, these are passive readings.  They correspond to
>>>> something like:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> X did a good job.
>>>>
>>>> X did him.
>>>>
>>>> He is done( by X).
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> X did his neighbor a favor.
>>>>
>>>> X did his homework a favor.
>>>>
>>>> ? X did his homework him.
>>>>
>>>> ?? He is done his homework( by X).
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I suspect the reading you are looking for instead involves a sense of
>>>> "done" conveying completion of an unspecified event, rather than a passive
>>>> variant of "do".  I’m not sure that sense is implemented in the ERG,
>>>> although I can’t speak for Dan for sure on that.  I see parses with that
>>>> sense when the event in question is an explicit complement of the adjective
>>>> "done", e.g. for:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> He is done eating.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Best,
>>>>
>>>> -Woodley
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Apr 6, 2018, at 2:36 PM, <paul at haleyai.com> <paul at haleyai.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Hi,
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I’m afraid I have a stupid question, but am a bit surprised at the
>>>> following results (the MRS, in particular, having “he” as ARG2 or ARG3).
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Does this look right to those of you who know more than I?  Can you
>>>> help me understand the subject of the “do” predication here, if so?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Thank you,
>>>>
>>>> Paul
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> <image002.png>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> <image001.png>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> <image003.png>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Emily M. Bender
>>> Professor, Department of Linguistics
>>> Check out CLMS on facebook! http://www.facebook.com/uwclma
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> --
> Emily M. Bender
> Professor, Department of Linguistics
> Check out CLMS on facebook! http://www.facebook.com/uwclma
>
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