Tuesday 19 June 2018

Possessive Identifying Clauses: Possession As Process

Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 296):
Some verbs combine the feature of possession with other semantic features; for example
  • exclude ‘[negative] + have’,
  • owe ‘have on behalf of another possessor’,
  • deserve ‘ought to have’,
  • lack ‘need to have’. 
(Most verbs meaning ‘come to have’, on the other hand, function as Process in ‘material’ clauses; for example get, receive, acquire — compare the tense forms in You deserve a medal. – I’m getting one.)