The English Noun Phrase in its Sentential Aspect - Vinartus

Chapter 1Introduction1 A Puzzle and Its Solution1.1 The PuzzleOne of the most perplexing structures in English is the so-called \Poss-ing"gerundive construction. An example is:(1) John's building a spaceshipWhat makes this construction so perplexing is that it seems to be neithersh nor fowl, so to speak. On the one hand, it is obviously a sentence buton the other hand, it is obviously a noun phrase.Considered with regard to its external distribution, the Poss-ing gerundivebehaves exactly like a noun phrase. It appears in noun-phrase positions|and particularly, in noun-phrase positions from which sentences are excluded,such as subject position under Subject-Aux Inversion, embeddedsubject position, or object of preposition:(2) a. *did [that John built a spaceship] upset you?did [John] upset you?did [John's building a spaceship] upset you?b. *I wondered if [that John built a spaceship] had upset youIwondered if [John] had upset youIwondered if [John's building a spaceship] had upset youc. *I told you about [that John built a spaceship]I told you about [John]I told you about [John's building a spaceship]13