Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

Determiners: articles and pronouns 861
III. Distal demonstratives in imperatives
In imperatives, the choice of the demonstrative depends on the position of the noun
phrase in the clause. First, consider the examples in (507), which shows that a direct
object normally precedes the particle of a particle verb like neerleggen ‘to put
down’.
(507) a. Jan legt de/deze/die bal neer.
Jan puts the/this/that ball down
b. *Jan legt neer de/deze/die bal.
When the verb takes the imperative form, the direct object can, of course, also
precede the particle, as is shown in (508a), but (508b) shows that the object can also
follow the particle provided that the determiner is the distal demonstrative die;
when the determiner is the definite article or the proximate demonstrative deze, this
order is unacceptable.
(508) a. Leg de/deze/die bal neer!
put the/this/that ball down
b. Leg neer die/*deze/*de bal!
put down that/this/the ball
In imperative constructions in which the verb has the infinitival form, the particle
can also be followed by a direct object headed by a distal demonstrative, as in
(509a), and something similar happens in imperative constructions in (509b)
without a verb form; observe that in the latter case the direct object can be
optionally preceded by the preposition met ‘with’. For a more extensive discussion
of these imperative constructions, see Den Dikken (1992).
(509) a. Neerleggen die/*deze/*de bal!
put.downinfinitive that/this/the ball
b. Het huis uit (met) die/ ? deze/ ? de bal!
the house out.of with that/this/the ball
IV. Distal demonstratives in evaluative contexts
The distal demonstratives die/dat can also be used to express a (mostly negative)
evaluation. Under the evaluative reading, the examples in (510) require a distal
demonstrative: the proximate demonstratives deze and dit are only compatible with
a truly deictic meaning.
(510) a. Die/ # Deze rotmol[-neuter] heeft weer gaten in het gazon gemaakt!
this/these damn’d mole has again holes in the lawn made
‘That damn’d.mole has made holes in the lawn again!’
b. Dat/ # Dit rotbeest[+neuter] heeft weer gaten in het gazon gemaakt!
this/these damn’d.animal has again holes in the lawn made
‘That damn’d animal has made holes in the lawn again!’
In these evaluative contexts, the noun phrase may also contain a proper noun
provided that the latter is modified by a non-restrictive adjectival phrase expressing
some subjective evaluation on the part of the speaker, as in (511a&b); when the