Variation Between Sentential Complements: The Case of Work At -ing and Work On -ing

Abstract

This chapter examines the variation between two sentential complement patterns selected by the matrix verb work in recent American and British English. In present-day English it is possible to find instances where the verb is followed either by an at -ing complement or an on -ing complement. A feature common to these patterns is that the subject of the matrix verb is also the understood subject of the gerund of the lower-level complement clause. The syntactic similarity of the patterns gives rise to a closer study of them in large electronic corpora, in COHA and COCA for American English and in the Hansard Corpus and the BNC for British English. In addition to a survey of the diachronic developments in the occurrence of the patterns from the nineteenth century onwards, semantic characteristics of the patterns are examined in order to detect notable tendencies in their use. The chapter proposes that in certain circumstances one pattern may be favoured over the other, with the difference occasionally having to do with the prospect of achieving the goal expressed in the gerundial complement. Another finding indicating a difference in meaning between the patterns is the different usage of the simple and progressive forms of the matrix verb work, as the at -ing pattern has the matrix verb more frequently in the simple forms. It is suggested that ultimately the differences between the two patterns reflect the fundamental meanings of the prepositions at and on.