Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

. Er werden wat boeken verkocht.
there were some books sold
‘Some books were sold.’
b′. Er werden er [wat [e]] verkocht.
there were ER some sold
b′′. *Er werden wat verkocht.
there were some sold
Numerals and quantifiers 917
Note that (141b′′) without quantitative er is acceptable when the verb is singular, as is
shown in (142a). But in this case we are not dealing with the use of the modifier wat
as an independent argument, but with the colloquial form of the [-HUMAN] quantified
personal pronoun iets ‘something’. In this use wat can be modified by the degree
modifiers heel ‘very’ and nogal ‘quite’, in which case it receives the interpretation
“a lot”. Other modifiers that can be used are flink ‘quite’ and behoorlijk ‘quite’.
(142) a. Er werd wat/iets verkocht.
there was something sold
‘Something was sold’.
b. Er werd daar heel/nogal wat verkocht.
there was there very/quite something sold
‘A lot was sold there’.
III. Other cases
With the other simple quantifiers discussed in 6.2.3.1, we generally also find a
contrast between weak and strong quantifiers. The weak quantifiers in (143), for
instance, can only occur when quantitative er is present.
(143) a. Er liggen verscheidene/verschillende/ettelijke boeken op de tafel.
there lie various/several/a.number.of books on the table
‘Various/several/a number of books are lying on the table.’
b. Er liggen ?? (er) verscheidene/verschillende/ettelijke [e] op de tafel.
there lie ER various/several/a.number.of on the table
The forms allerlei and allerhande in (144), however, can be used as independent
arguments in formal language. The independent use of these forms requires singular
agreement on the finite verb: in (144b), quantitative er is present and the verb
exhibits plural agreement; in (144b′), quantitative er is absent and the verb exhibits
singular agreement. Independent allerlei and allerhande therefore pattern with wat
in (142) rather than with sommige in (137).
(144) a. Er liggen allerlei/allerhande boeken op de tafel.
there lie ll.sorts.of books on the table
‘All sorts of books are lying on the table.’
b. Er liggen/*ligt er [allerlei/allerhande [e]] op de tafel. [modifier of [NP e ]]
there lie/lies ER all.sorts.of (things) on the table
b′. Er ligt/ *? liggen allerlei/allerhande op de tafel. [independent argument]
there lies/lie all.sorts.of (things) on the table