On Jun 25, 4:52=A0pm, Vickie <lilliputianbizz...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> So to say to someone, "Well, you ought to!" is not a complete
> sentence then?
Well IIRC it has some kind of ellipsis or anaphora in it -- I forget
which is which :-). It's where you leave out a bit of the sentence
which refers to something that's been said earlier. "You ought to"
leaves out the rest of the sentence which has the verb in it. "You
know about the election result? Well you ought to." (".. know about
it", "know" is the verb). It's especially common in spoken language
but often considered wrong in writing.
Heh. Never know when a background in automated language understanding
comes in handy :-) Computers find it hard to fill those gaps in spoken/
informal language properly, which is one of the reasons why
"conversations" with computer systems are so stilted.
Cailleach
> On Jun 24, 8:22=A0pm, "Bill in Co" <surly_curmudg...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > Vickie wrote:
> > > On Jun 24, 11:19 am, "Bill in Co" <surly_curmudg...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> > > wrote:
> > >> Vickie wrote:
> > >>> On Jun 24, 12:00 am, "Bill in Co" <surly_curmudg...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> > >>> wrote:
> > >>>> Vickie wrote:
> > >>>>> Mom of 4- you are in good company!
>
> > >>>>> Hey Bill and Xorra. :-))
>
> > >>>>> V
>
> > >>>> Indeed!
>
> > >>> Glad you got it. :-)
>
> > >>> Vickie
>
> > >> "Elementary, my dear Watsonette" =A0:-)
>
> > > You know, no one can name their child Sherlock, otherwise whenever
th=
e
> > > poor soul asked an innocent question the response would be, "No
sh**,
> > > Sherlock".
>
> > LOL!
>
> > > And totally unrelated..., what kind of word is ought? =A0Verb?
>
> > > Sherlockette
>
> > :-)
>
> > Well, not exactly. =A0 =A0It helps a (real) verb, right? =A0(and a
sent=
ence has to
> > have a (real) noun and a (real) verb, and, it ain't quite there yet. =
=A0:-).
>
> So to say to someone, "Well, you ought to!" =A0is not a complete
> sentence then?
>
>
>
> > It's called an auxiliary verb, and I just looked up the term. =A0
(Man,=
it's
> > been a long time).
>
> And I cannot believe you didn't tell me google is my friend!
> Auxiliary? =A0Cool.
>
>
>
> > How about this one:
> > He ought to go.... =A0 =A0 =A0GO is the REAL verb here.
>
> > "to go"??? =A0 =A0Hmmm, and isn't that an infinitive verb tense? =A0 =
=A0(You may
> > remember better, as you're younger. =A0 =A0 I just can't remember all
t=
he way
> > back to HS, and the good ole days of Teddy Roosevelt very well
anymore)=
..-
>
> Yeah, yeah.
>
> Yes, it is an infinitive verb tense. =A0 I do remember that from
> studying other languages.
>
> Vickie- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
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