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From: markrose@spss.com (Mark Rosenfelder)
Subject: Re: Go + verb
Message-ID: <D1LIu6.KrL@spss.com>
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Organization: SPSS Inc
References: <moose-2712941526180001@pacsci-23.pacsci.org> <edb-ht.788728078@find2.denet.dk>
Date: Thu, 29 Dec 1994 23:34:51 GMT
Lines: 38

In article <edb-ht.788728078@find2.denet.dk>,
Helge Thygesen <edb-ht@find2.denet.dk> wrote:
>moose@halcyon.com (Moosenose) writes:
>>A posting to alt.usage.english asks about the structure of sentences like
>>"Go get a haircut," which appear to have two verbs. Has anyone proposed a
>>structure for this type of expression? Is it a coordinate structure, like
>>"Go and get a haircut," with the conjunction omitted?
>
>>I notice that it doesn't work in many situations that are not imperative
>>constructions, though I think I could say, "I couldn't go get a haircut
>>yesterday because the barbershop was closed." Except with the auxilliary
>>verb, as above, it also doesn't seem to work in the first or third person.

How about "I go get a haircut every week"?  "They" seems to work here too.

>>"Come" also seems to work, as in "Come give me a kiss."
>
>In English, you can't say the difference between imperative and infinitive,
>but in French you can use aller or venir + infinitive the same way. This
>sugest that it's not a coordinate structure. I vote that to go is a modal
>verb

If by "aller + infinitive" you're referring to sentences like "Je vais
me faire couper les cheveux", this doesn't seem to be a clear parallel to 
English; e.g. you can't say "*I'm going get a haircut".  As for venir +
infinitive, I think there's no such thing; if you're thinking of venir de +
infinitive ("Je viens de me faire couper les cheveux"), that seems even
more unrelated to English ("*I've just come got a haircut").

On the other hand, if "go get" < "go and get", why do we see
   I'm going and getting a haircut.
  *I'm going getting a haircut.
   I went and got a haircut.
  *I went got a haircut.
   They said to go get a haircut, and a haircut was duly went and/*0 got.

It seems that the go + verb combination only works when either verb
has a (visible) inflection attached (at least in my idiolect).
