Super Hard Diagram

[TheParser]

I cannot possibly R-K:

"I might as well tell the truth as continue to tell lies."

Thank you for your help.

[Frank Antonson]

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."

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?

[TheParser]

Reword it to "I might tell the truth as well as I might continue to tell lies well."

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?

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.

[TheParser]

Reword it to "I might tell the truth as well as I might continue to tell lies well."

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?

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.

[Frank Antonson]

I believe that she has left one of the "as"'s out.

[TheParser]

I believe that she has left one of the "as"'s out.

Excellent point.

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.

[Frank Antonson]

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.

[TheParser]

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.

Yes, I see what you are saying.

We could never give up on you!!!

As dfadggrrgvdf said,

You rock young homie!

[TheParser]

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.

I guess that 99.99% of English speakers could not care less about this

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].

[Frank Antonson]