tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Feb 26 12:26:46 1998
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Re: Some Grammar Questions
- From: "David Trimboli" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: Some Grammar Questions
- Date: Thu, 26 Feb 1998 12:15:27 -0500
From: JEFF ZEITLIN <[email protected]>
>1. Compound Imperatives
>
> If the objects of two sentences are the same, is it
> necessary to repeat the common object, or may the
> sentences be combined:
>
> qama'pu'li' yISaH - Care about your prisoners!
> qama'pu'li' yIQorgh - Care for your prisoners!
>
> Given those two sentences, is
>
> qama'pu'li' yISaH 'ej yIQorgh
>
> permissible for "Care about your prisoners, and care for
> them!"?
Because your objects are plural, this should properly be
qama'pu'lI' tISaH 'ej tIQorgh.
This sentence is grammatically correct. Note that it seems to be
stylistically appropriate not to use a conjunction in such a sentence:
qama'pu'lI' tISaH, tIQorgh.
This sort of sentence shows up more often than imperatives joined with a
conjunction.
>2. Topicalization with 'e'
>
> Is it acceptable/proper to use this construct to convert
> a multi-word sentence into a noun phrase?
>
> jagh boHIvmeH Dup bolo' - You use strategy to attack the enemy.
>
> becomes
>
> jagh boHIvmeH Dup'e' bolo' - the strategy that you use to attack
the enemy
This says, "You use the STRATEGY for attacking the enemy (as opposed to
something other than strategy)."
What you really want is a relative clause (relative clauses turn sentences
into descriptive noun phrases, see TKD 6.2.3):
jagh boHIvmeH Dup bolo'bogh
the strategy that you use to attack the enemy
(Literally, "The strategy-in-order-that-you-attack-the-enemy which you use")
This could get confusing in longer sentences. Make sure your context is
clear before using such a sentence.
SuStel
Stardate 98156.6
P.S.: Suppose you wanted to say, "You use the strategy for attacking the
enemy (as opposed to some other strategy like negotiating)." This would be
{jagh boHIvqu'meH Dup bolo'}. Here, {HIv} "attack" is emphasized, not {Dup}
"strategy."