English presentative sentences with have

• Authors: Brůhová Gabriela , Malá Markéta
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The paper explores the potential of English sentences with the verb have to constitute the Presentation Scale. Have-presentative sentences, in which the verb is devoid of its possessive meaning, can be viewed as an alternative to the “full presentative” there-constructions. Both constructions contain an indefinite noun phrase presenting new information, and they share the communicative function of introducing a new referent into discourse, cf. We have a long trip ahead of us vs. There’s a long trip ahead of us. Presentative sentences with have are described and classified with respect to the animacy, semantics and reference of the subject, the presence of a locative adverbial, and the semantics of the object.

Keywords

EN

Presentation Scale; have-presentative sentences; locative subject; verbs of existence and appearance

Discipline

• PHILOLOGY_&_LINGUISTICS: PHILOLOGY & LINGUISTICS

• Publisher: Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Arts, Czech Republic
• Journal: Linguistica Pragensia
• Year: 2019
• Volume: 29
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 160-177

Contributors

author

Brůhová Gabriela

• Department of English Language and ELT Methodology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University

author

Malá Markéta

• Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts, Charles University