I cannot possibly R-K:
"I might as well tell the truth as continue to tell lies."
Thank you for your help.
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I cannot possibly R-K:
"I might as well tell the truth as continue to tell lies."
Thank you for your help.
Reword it to "I might tell the truth as well as I might continue to tell lies well."Quote:
Originally Posted by TheParser
Treat "I might...well" as understood and use "x"'s for them. "As...as" is a correlative conjunction joining the first "well" to an adverb clause. "To tell lies" is an infinitive phrase acting as the direct object in the second clause.
Does that help?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank Antonson
Thank you so much.
That really helps.
Now I have more insight into how that very much ellipted sentence
should be R-Ked .
Thanks again.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank Antonson
Mr. Antonson:
In the very unlikely case that one of your gifted students ever
asks you to analyze this "phrase," I thought that you would like to
know how one language professional (who makes her living grading
English exams taken by foreign learners) parses it:
I might well tell the truth (just) as I might well continue to tell lies.
Thanks again for being such a dependable resource for us all.
I believe that she has left one of the "as"'s out.
Excellent point.Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank Antonson
Another excellent and very experienced professional told me that
she would consider "as well" a phrasal adverb that modifies the
verb. I guess something like:
I / might tell [modified by "as well"] as I / might continue/ to tell/ lies.
The problem with that is it ignores the other "as". "As...as" is working correlatively.
"As well" could be a phrasal adverb in a sentence like "I went as well", meaning "I went also".
Sometimes sentences like the original one you started with can be interpreted differently, but so far I don't see the other interpretation. I am not saying that I am right. I just mean to say that I can't yet accept the other explanation. Don't give up on me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank Antonson
Yes, I see what you are saying.
We could never give up on you!!!
As dfadggrrgvdf said,
You rock young homie!
I guess that 99.99% of English speakers could not care less about thisQuote:
Originally Posted by Frank Antonson
matter, but I felt that you might like to know about something I
received from another language aficionado. It is a reference from a
book entitled An English Grammar by one A. Blount:
You may as well come [as you may not come].