Monday, 25 December 2023

Mistaking Part Of The Finite For A Mood Adjunct [1]

Martin (2013: 53, 54):




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To be clear, the not in the data is not a Mood Adjunct, but part of the Finite, as Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 175) explain:

Finally, we should note that the negative word not occurs in two functions: either it is simply a formal or written variant of the Finite negative element n’t, in which case it is part of the Finite; or it is a distinct modal Adjunct in Mood or Residue. In the latter case it is phonologically salient and may also be tonic.

A genuine example of not as a Mood Adjunct is

After all that, I couldn't not go, could I?

 Cf. Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 177)

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