Manner in the way construction and the reaction object construction

Abstract

This study deals with two constructions of the English language, the Way Construction and the Reaction Object Construction, in which the verb, rather than an adverb, encapsulates meaning related to Manner. The device we propose for such a codification recalls the à fusion analysis originally proposed by Maurice Gross, as in his paraphrastic pair Max dit à Ida qu’il est prêt, en hurlant = Max hurle à Ida qu’il est prêt (Gross 1981: 46). Our analysis of the former construction is based on Salkoff’s (1988) hypothesis regarding the way-NP, considered as a noun predicate. Also the post-verbal noun of the latter construction is analyzed as a predicative noun, as maintained in Mirto (2017). As is well-known, the Way Construction mandatorily includes a prepositional phrase. In order to account for the obligatory nature of this PP, we propose a predicative role. The Way Construction is thus characterized as requiring three predications.