Is

Question

Modern standard Spanish, also referred to as Castilian, is spoken throughout Spain and is the official language. But Castilian is often a second language, not a mother tongue. In el Norte two regional languages are widely spoken. One, the language of the Basque people, is called Euskara. It appears to be one of Europe's oldest languages but is quite different from the Indo-European…

In the first sentence, you will find two words of 'is' . I think the second 'is' not necessary here.

All those who speak Spanish knows the difference between Spanish and Catalan. I speak some Castilian. I myself have noticed the difference between the languages spoken by people of Barcelona and Madrid. I like the language spoken by people of Madrid not the Catalan language. I have learned it.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

Both 'is's are required in the first sentence, Andrei-- the first is the operator of a passive verb and the second is the copulative 'be'.

As for your second paragraph:

'All those who speak Spanish know the difference between Spanish and Catalan. I speak some Castilian. I myself have noticed the difference between the languages spoken by the people of Barcelona and and of Madrid. I like the language spoken in Madrid, but not the Catalan language, so I have learned it.'

Andrei · Answer

Modern standard Spanish, also referred to as Castilian, is spoken throughout Spain and is the official language.
Micawber has written the following:

Both 'is's are required in the first sentence, Andrei-- the first is the operator of a passive verb and the second is the copulative 'be'.

What is the meaning of copulative 'be' means here? For me, the copulative means some type of joining of words or word groups. Coulative conjunction and verbs are in English grammar.

Paco2004 · Answer

Hello Andrei and Mr M

I'm interested in the question Andrei raised. I also am not sure about in what cases an 'is/are' can be shared by two (or more) compliments connected with 'and' or 'but'. So let me repeat Andrei's question in my way.

Format : S is X and Y. Here X and Y are any phrases that can work as compliments of S.
X and Y are syntactically in the same sort.
1) She is not only pretty but also bright.
2) He is an engineer as well as a scholar.
3) He was defeated by the enemy and expelled from their homeland.
X, Y :an adjective and a noun
4) She is bright but still merely a child.
5) She is merely a child but very bright.
(is X) and (is Y) are syntactically different.
6) He was a brave warrior but captured by the enemy.
7) He was brave but captured by the enemy.
8) They are soon leaving this school but still now our students.

I think there is no problem about the case one. But how about the case two and the case three?

paco

Mister Micawber · Answer

In English linguisitic terminology, a copula is a grammatical item that indicates either that two items are identical, or that an item belongs to a certain class or has a certain quality. 'Be' is the most common copular verb, and is often called 'the copula':

Pedro is Castilian.
Pedro is tall and handsome.
Pedro was an accountant.

Mister Micawber · Answer

Hi Paco,

(First, before I forget to tell you: check 'complement' and 'compliment')

Now: The idea is that the verb can serve two parallel objects or whatever, as in--

My favorite sports are skiing and snowboarding. OK
My favorite sports are skiing and to snowboard. NG
He is a gentleman and a scholar. OK
He is a gentleman and sitting on my hat. NG
They have been drawn and quartered. OK
They have been drawn and died. NG

Therefore, I suspect that your Case Two actually represent coordinate clauses with the second verb elided-- even though it may be the same verb. Nevertheless, your examples read as natural. I wonder if all examples would read so? (As you know, Paco, I am not a great searcher of all possible cases-- I sit like a spider and wait for them to come to me.)

As for Case Three: they do not read naturally, so they must be stretching your theory too far:

6) He was a brave warrior but captured by the enemy. (Simply doesn't work; 'he was a brave warrior, but was captured' I think it must be.)

7) He was brave but captured by the enemy. (A mix of copula and passive, this one smacks of humorous parallelism-- for which I believe there is a term, if I could only remember it: 'he went fishing in the rain, and caught three trout and a cold')

8) They are soon leaving this school but still now our students. (This one's original structure is a bit awkward, so I'm not sure what the problem is. 'They are soon leaving the school, but are still our students'?-- my version, at least, needs the second verb for the same reason as (7.)

Andrei · Answer

Micawber has written the following just to correct one of my sentences.

I myself have noticed the difference between the languages spoken by the people of Barcelona and and of Madrid. I like the language spoken in Madrid, but not the Catalan language, so I have learned it.'

Is it really necessary to say 'people of Barcelona and of Madrid.

This is a short sentence. You tacitly or obviously understand when you write 'people of Barcelona and Madrid'.

[There is an additional word of 'and'. I have no doubt that it was a typo from Micawber.]

Mister Micawber · Answer

Thanks, Andrei.  The second 'and' is a typo; the second 'of' is not.  While certainly not required, I felt that if made it more clear that we were speaking of two languages.  Most non-Spanish would expect the language of Barcelona and Madrid to be the same, so I reinforced the plural 'languages' with the second 'of'.

Paco2004 · Answer

Hello Mr M

'They are soon leaving the school, but are still our students'?...Yes, it is that!. He went fishing in the rain, and caught three trout and a cold...Ahahaha, this sentence is nice to exemplify mis-coordinating two objects of 'have'. If I were a English teacher, I would surely use this in my class. Anyway I am glad to know I was not so bad in coordinating two sentences. Thank you a lot as usual!

paco

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