Selected Papers from the Fourteenth International ... - STIBA Malang

2 4 Thomas Egan
Deprived of their co-texts, it might appear that (27)–(29) could in fact encode
general validity predications but a closer investigation shows this not to be the
case. (30) is an extended version of (27).
(30) ‘‘How can you say I am harsh, you naughty fondling?’’ cried
the mistress, amazed at the unreasonable assertion. ‘‘You are
surely losing your reason. When have I been harsh, tell me?’’
‘‘Yesterday,’’ sobbed Isabella, ‘‘and now!’’
‘‘Yesterday!’’ said her sister-in-law. ‘‘On what occasion?’’
‘‘In our walk along the moor. You told me to ramble where I pleased,
while you sauntered on with Mr. Heathcliff!’’
‘‘And that’s your notion of harshness?’’ said Catherine,
laughing. ‘‘It was no hint that your company was superfluous.
We didn’t care whether you kept with us or not. I merely
thought Heathcliff ’s talk would have nothing entertaining for
your ears.’’
‘‘Oh no,’’ wept the young lady; ‘‘you wished me away
because you knew I liked to be there!’’ (Brontë, Wuthering Heights)
There can be no doubt that when Isabella in (30) says I liked to be there she is referring
to the specific occasion of the walk on the moors the previous day. Similarly in
(28) the subject expresses his gratification at having been praised on the particular
occasion in question. In (29) the adverbial on this night too allows us to infer the
specificity of the predication.
The predication in (30) could be felicitously encoded in Present-day English
by ‘like -ing’. This would be less likely in (28) because of the so-called ‘double-ing
constraint’ (see Ross 972). As for (29), another possible interpretation is that it
is a forward-looking predication, with like meaning ‘choose’. This use of like to
encode an act of choosing is also instantiated in (3 )–(34), all of which clearly
encode forward-looking predications.
(3 ) Anne said she would not meddle with them, and that she would
wait till her brother liked to count them. (Edgeworth, The Parent’s Assistant)
(32) The usher walked slowly round the down with such boys as
liked to accompany him. (Hughes, Tom Brown’s Schooldays.)
(33) “Any day you like to come and dine with me, I’ll give you as
good a bottle of wine as you’ll get in London.”
(Galsworthy, The Man of Property)
(34) I want you to give me a few minutes of your attention in private, at
any time and place you like to appoint. (Bronte, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall)
While all four examples (3 )–(34) could be paraphrased using choose, the
predications in (33) and (34), though not (3 ) and (32), may be expressed in