The Syntax of Early English - Cryptm.org

Grammaticalization and grammar change 301under investigation. All the occurrences in the Helsinki corpus of havefollowed by a to-infinitive were checked (see the Appendix). A distinctionwas made between constructions where only have has an object (A1, see (16)below and the Appendix); where both have and the infinitive have their ownseparate objects (A2); where the infinitive is an adjunct with the object ofhave as the ‘antecedent’ (here the object NP is generally found between haveand the infinitive, unless topicalized or wh-moved; at the OV word orderstage, the object could be ambiguous between being an object of have or ofthe infinitive) (A3); and, finally, where have is followed immediately by theinfinitive, either without an object (B1) or with an object (B2). (16) illustratesthe various types.(16) A1: object governed and theta-marked by haveæt he stowe hæfde in æm streame to standennethat he place had in the streame to stand‘that he had a place to stand in the stream’ (Bede 5.13.436.5)A2: both have and the infinitive govern their own objectsIc hæbbe anweald mine sawle to alætaneIc have power my soul to leave‘I have power to lay down my life’ (Jn(WSCp) 10.18)A3: there is an NP object, which could be theta-marked by both have and theinfinitiveBy nygte, whanne he hadde no man to teche‘By night, when he had no one to teach’ (Trevisa Polychr. 225)B1: have and the infinitive are consecutive but there is an implied object‘shared’ by both have and the infinitive 6. . . he js wel avysyd at sche seyd sche wuld neuer have to done wythall‘. . . and he is well advised that she said she would never have [anything]to do [with this] at all’ (Paston Letters 128.75)B2: have and the infinitive are consecutive but only the infinitive governs anobject 7It is to weten at auturs [who] tretyn of causon [kind of fever]commaunde not mynuschynge [bloodletting] to be don . . .6In the data of the Helsinki Corpus only one example was found of have and a consecutiveinfinitive without such an implied object, so with a true intransitiveinfinitive. This example is from early Modern English, so quite late:He went in his coatch because Jug has to goe gett hir a payer of bodis(E2 Barrington Family Letter (Searle 1983: 78))7Most of the examples with this ‘new’ word order in the corpus (fifteen in all, see theAppendix) have a clausal object, which presumably accounts for their position afterthe infinitive. Three examples may have late NP position for stylistic reasons. The earliestnon-ambiguous instance is the one given here.