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The historical development andfunctional characteristics of compositepredicates with Have and take inEnglishMeiko MatsumotoPublished online: 16 Aug 2006.

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The Historical Development andFunctional Characteristics ofComposite Predicates with Have andTake in EnglishMeiko Matsumoto1

1 Introduction

Composite predicates2 (abbreviated as CPs) are verbal structures comprising a verbsuch as give, make, have, take and a deverbal noun (e.g. give an answer, make a call,

have a drink, take a guess).3 A definition of CPs has not been widely established andscholars have used various terms to describe these structures and the elements thatconstitute them. Jespersen calls the verbs employed in Cattell’s ‘‘complex verbal

phrase,’’4 ‘‘light’’ verbs to describe the structure as a whole.5 Curme6 calls CP verbs‘‘transitive copulas.’’ Halliday refers to these verbs as ‘‘neutral’’ verbs.7 Live describes

CP verbs as an ‘‘empty or light’’ verb element, and as forming a ‘‘phrasal verbpattern.’’8

As for the deverbal nouns in CPs, Quirk et al. call these ‘‘eventive object[s].’’9

Kruisinga terms the noun cry in to have a good cry, a ‘‘converted’’ noun;10 as

employed above this paper uses Akimoto’s usage of the term ‘‘deverbal noun.’’11

Live also points out that this construction is ‘‘deeply rooted in the historicaldevelopment of the language.’’12 In Old English (OE), for example, formations

combining a verb and a deverbal noun such as sið ateon ‘‘to take a journey,’’ and

1Meiko Matsumoto is from Okayama University, Japan.2See Cattell.3Brinton and Akimoto, 1.4Cattell, 178 – 79.5Jespersen, 117.6Curme, 69.7Halliday, 60.8Live, 31.9Quirk et al., 750.10Kruisinga, 279.11Akimoto’s, 1, 362.12Live, 41.

English StudiesVol. 86, No. 5, October 2005, 439 – 456

ISSN 0013-838X (print)/ISSN 1744-4217 (online) ª 2005 Taylor & FrancisDOI: 10.1080/00138380500164091

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gewin dreogan ‘‘to fight’’ were employed.13 An earlier study of mine14 describes variedinstances of CPs in Middle English (ME), identifying in particular a great increase in

CPs with the verb make caused by the transition of the French faıre + deverbal nounto the English make + deverbal noun.15 Gorlach points out that ‘‘the replacement of a

verb by a verb + noun group (to swim—to have a swim) appears to have first becomemoderately frequent in Early ModE.’’16 Based on a survey of CPs in the Oxford

English Dictionary (OED), Akimoto argues that CPs were rarely employed before1500, but increased rapidly thereafter.17 However, on the basis of the materials

investigated in Prins, Burnely18 contends that CPs became particularly common inthe late fourteenth century. A survey of usages of CPs in Late ME and Early ModernEnglish (Early ModE) promises to afford further insight into the development of CPs.

However, this paper focuses in particular on the CP verbs have and take, with anemphasis on CPs with have and take followed by a common deverbal noun. For

insight into the historical development, but also the linguistic characteristics andfunction of CPs, the state/event distinction conveyed by CPs from the fifteenth

century through to the seventeenth century is the central concern of this inquiry,though reference is made to CPs in Late ME and Late Modern English (Late ModE)

as well. The data analysed in this study are from prose and drama works in theChadwyck-Healey Early English Prose Fiction and English Verse Drama Database

(see bibliography for detailed list of works investigated).

2 Characteristics of CP Verbs Have and Take

Let us consider first the linguistic characteristics of the CP verbs have and take as they

developed historically.

2.1 The Dynamic Have

Quirk et al. describe the static and dynamic uses of CPs with the verb have as shownin the following examples:19

(1)(a) The chair has beautiful carved legs.(b) We have dinner at Maxim’s quite frequently.

The stative use of the verb have in (1)(a) means ‘‘to possess,’’ and the dynamic use in

(1)(b) means ‘‘to eat.’’

13See Visser, 138 – 39; Nickel, 82 – 83; Hiltunen, 215 – 16.14Matsumoto, ‘‘Chapter 3,’’ 59 – 95.15Prins.16Gorlach, 97.17Akimoto, Idiomaticity, 312.18Burnely, 450.19Quirk et al., 178.

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The earliest instances of the dynamic use of have in the history of English occur inChaucer (2) and Gower (3), as follows:

(2)(a) And which of yow that bereth hym best of alleThat is to sayn, that telleth in this caas

Tales of best sentence and moost solaasShal have a soper at oure aller cost

Heere in this place, sittynge by this post,Whan that we come again fro Caunterbury.20

[And whichever of you behaves best of all,that is to say, that tells, in this case,tales of best significance and most amusement,

shall have a supper at the cost by this post,when we come back from Canterbury.]21

(b) Have now good nyght, and lat us bothe slepe.22

[Now, have a good night, and let us both sleep.]

(3)(a) Bot he seith often, ‘‘Have good day,’’23

[But he often says, ‘‘Have a good day,’’](b) Wher that thei hadde a riche feste,24

[Where they had a rich feast,]

2.2 Active vs. Passive Contrast in Meaning

The subjects of CPs with have are not always agentive but sometimes recipient as in I

had a fright, meaning ‘‘I was frightened.’’25 Those of CPs with take are alsosometimes recipient, as in take a beating, meaning ‘‘to be beaten,’’26 but most are

agentive, as in take a jump, meaning ‘‘to jump.’’27 CPs with have and take sometimesshow the active versus passive contrast in meaning; the following are examples of CPs

with have and take found in ME that show passive meanings:

(4)(a) . . .; for he hath serued so longe the deuyll he shall have vengeance four and

twenty dayes, . . .28

[. . .; for he has served the devil so long he shall be punished by an avenger for

twenty-four days, . . .]29

20Chaucer, CT, Prol. A. 796 – 801.21Quoted from Ichikawa and Matsunami, 94.22Chaucer, TC 3.420.23Gower, CA 4.2814.24Ibid., 1.814.25Quirk et al., 751.26Algeo, 206.27Matsumoto, ‘‘Composite Predicates,’’ 185.28See Vinaver ed., for Malory, 947.29 – 30.29MED, s.v. haven, def. 7c[b]: haven vengeance ‘‘to be punished by an avenger.’’

Composite Predicates with Have and Take in English 441

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(b) Than he hylde up both his hondys, for he drad last God takyn vengeanceupon hym.30

[Then he held up both his hands for he was afraid lest God takevengeance.]

2.3 State vs. Event Distinction

CPs with have and take sometimes show a state versus event (or ‘‘inchoative’’)

distinction. CPs with have and take followed by cold, love, and sleep showedthis stative versus eventive/inchoative distinction from Late ME through EarlyModE. In the following pair of examples from the fifteenth century, have cold

in (5)(a), meaning ‘‘to be cold, to feel cold,’’ denotes a state, and take cold in(5)(b), meaning ‘‘to catch a chill, become pathologically cold or chilled’’ is an

event.

(5)(a) . . .: lat us kepe oure stronge-walled townys untyll they haue hunger and colde,and . . .31

[. . .: let us keep our strong-walled towns until they are hungry and feel cold,and . . .]

(b) But now go again lightly; for thy longe tarrynge puttith me in grete jouperte ofmy lyff, for I haue takyn cold . . .32

[. . . But now go again quickly; for your tarrying for a long time put me in

danger of losing my life, for I have caught a chill . . .]

The CPs in both of the following pairs of examples from the sixteenth century showevents; that in (6)(a) means ‘‘to catch cold,’’ and that in (6)(b) means ‘‘to catch a

cold.’’

(6)(a) . . .; for he might not take cold after his swimming, she lay close by him to keephim warm.33

[. . .: so that he might not catch cold, she lay close by him to keep him

warm.](b) . . ., and she excusing herself with having taken a late cold, . . .34

[. . ., and she excusing herself with having caught a cold of late, . . .]

30See Vinaver, for Malory 974.8 – 9; MED, s.v. taken, def. 46[b]: taken vengeance ‘‘to execute vengeance, take

vengeance.’’31See Vinaver, for Malory 1211.25 – 26; OED, s.v. cold, def. 2: to have cold ‘‘to be cold, to feel or suffer

cold.’’32See Vinaver, for Malory 1239.33; MED, s.v. taken, def. 13[c]: taken (a) cold ‘‘to catch a chill, become

pathologically cold or chilled.’’33Nashe, 426.34Sidney, 285.

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The next pair of examples, from the seventeenth century, demonstrate thecontrast between CPs that denote states as in (7)(a) and those that denote events

as in (7)(b).

(7)(a) I am much grieved you have such a cold, . . .35

[. . . I am much grieved you have such a cold, . . .]

(b) And lest thou shouldest take cold, I cover’d With this Irish mantle.36

[And lest you should catch cold, I covered with this Irish mantle.]

According to the OED, both catch (a) cold and take (a) cold occurred in the sixteenthcentury. In Present Day English (PDE), have cold is not used and take (a) cold is used

rarely.37 Catch a cold seems to have replaced the ME taken cold and the EModE takecold.

As an interesting aside, it bears noting that since the nineteenth century, avoir froidand prendre froid have been differentiated in Modern French as a state and an event

respectively.38 In Middle French, avoir froid occurred.39 Le Grand Robert by Rey(1994) shows (1273) avoir froid, and (1834, Balzac) Par metonymie; prendre froid.

French seems not to have influenced the English have cold and take cold.Let us next consider the transition from have/take a love to be in love/to fall in love

between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. The following pair of examples fromthe fifteenth century show the contrast between CPs that convey a state and those thatconvey an event; have love in example (8)(a) means ‘‘to be in love,’’ and take love in

(8)(b) ‘‘to fall in love.’’

(8)(a) . . ., for the grete love that they had unto hym. . . .40

[. . ., for the great love that they had for him. . . .]

(b) Meede took so grete love to Jason that . . . sche made Charmes . . . Jason toenchaunte.41

[Medea fell so deeply in love with Jason that . . . she cast a spell . . . to enchantJason.]

The following pair of examples from the sixteenth century show take a love beingused to convey both an event and a state; the take love in (9)(a) means ‘‘to take

a fancy,’’ and is thus an event, whereas that in (9)(b) means ‘‘to bear love,’’ and thusa state.

35Browne, 21.36Elizabethan and Jacobean Tragedies, see Webster, 606.37Collins COBUILD English Dictionary, s.v. cold, def. 10 and 12.38Littre.39See Greims, s.v. avoir, def. 8a avec un adjectif: avoir froit, avoir cheri.40Caxton’s Blanchardyn and Eglantine, 132.18.41Quotation from Scrope, Othea, 66.24, c. 1440, in MED, s.v. taken, def. 16[b]: taken love of [to] ‘‘fall in love

with.’’

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(9)(a) And. . ., a grave man. . ., began to tell us that he had taken such a love unto us. . . that though he were a servant, . . .42

[And. . ., a grave man. . ., began to tell us that he had taken such a fancy to us. . . that though he were a servant, . . .]

(b) . . . How did I joy in this poor life, being quiet, blessed in the love of those Itook for parents. But now by them I know the country, and by that

knowledge, not to know myself. Miserable Urania, worse art thou now thylambs, for they know their dams, while thou live unknown of any.43

[. . . How did I take joy in this poor life, being quiet, blessed in the love of thoseI assumed to be my parents. But now by them I know the contrary, and by thatknowledge, not to know myself. Miserable Urania, worse are you now than

these your lambs, for they know their mothers, while you live unknown of any.]

Searching for a ‘‘a love’’ in the Chadwyck-Healey database of Early English ProseFiction yields nine instances of have a love (for), two instances of bear a love, one

instance of imbrace a love and no instances of take a love. The following example withthe CP have a love for is typical of the nine instances occurring in the Chadwyck-

Healey Early English Prose Fiction database:

(10) . . . all their measures with cha-abas, who she knew had a love for them both:she disguided the Love which . . .44

In the following pair of examples, be in love with in (11)(a) is closely relatedsemantically to have love and bear love; the eventive take love might have become fall

in love, as employed in (11)(b).

(11)(a) . . ., though he should be in love with me.45

[. . ., though he should be in love with me.]

(b) —all my subjects fell in love with me.46

[—all my subjects fell in love with me.]

Have love and take love were already analytic expressions, showing the contrast of astate versus an event, appearing in the same era as be in love (with) and fall in love

(with). The latter expressions presumably showed much more of an analytic tendencythan the former.

In Late Old English (Late OE), niman came into competition with tacan.According to Samuels, niman had previously collocated with deverbal objects, and

tacan seems to have been employed in what Samuels termed a ‘‘full’’ sense—akin to

42Sidney, 372.43See Salzman, ed., Seventeenth Century Fiction, for Wroth, Urania, 4.44Early English Prose Fiction, Part II: Peter Bellon, The Court Secret, 1689.45Five Restoration Comedies, see Vanbrugh, 484.46Ibid., 497.

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‘‘to seize’’ and ‘‘to accept’’—of the CPs in which it had been employed; as Samuelsargues,

(12) It has been shown in detail that, during the period when nime(n) and take(n)

‘‘take’’ were in competition, take(n) was used for the ‘‘full’’ senses like ‘‘seize,’’‘‘accept,’’ while nime(n) more often occurred in quasi-auxilliary use as in take

care/leave/vengeance.47

Furthermore, Akimoto and Brinton argue that ‘‘Although a rivalry between nimanand tacan develops from Late OE and Early ME, there is no indication of the tacancollocations corresponding to V + N in the transitional stage.’’48 Yamanouchi

identifies an instance of niman lufe from the late OE,49 but there is no evidence tosupport a transition from niman lufe to take love.

Appearing in the fifteenth century, take love is not included in the OED, and thisCP has not survived in PDE, but it may have been used with a meaning analogous to

have/take a fancy to or have/take a liking to, which have been in use since the sixteenthcentury.50 Though earlier instances are not found in the data analysed for this paper,

the following examples from the eighteenth century appear in the Chadwyck-HealeyEighteenth Century Fiction database; interestingly, the verb take is followed by both

liking and love:

(13) Now God took a great liking and love to these pretty silver . . . / . . . God took

such a liking and a love to him, . . .51

[Now God took a fancy to these pretty silver . . . / . . . God took such a fancy to

him, . . .]

The CP take/have a sleep, finally, sheds further light on the stative and eventiveaspects of CPs. As in the following examples from ME, taken slepe has both a stative

sense meaning ‘‘to be asleep,’’52 and an inchoative, eventive sense meaning ‘‘to sleep,fall asleep.’’53

(14) Let hym take a gode slepe, for þat helpyth gretly.54

[Let him fall asleep well, for that helps greatly.]

47Samuels, 79.48Akimoto and Brinton, 54.49Yamanouchi, 50.50OED, s.v. fancy, def. 8; OED, s.v. liking, def. 8.51Brooke, The Fool of Quality, vol. 1, chap. II. 1765 – 79.52MED, s.v. slep, def. 2.53MED, s.v. taken, def. 46.54Quotation from Caritate Ssecr. 166.23, c. 1484 [a1485], in MED, s.v. taken, def. 46[a]: taken slep ‘‘to sleep, fall

asleep.’’

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According to the OED, take sleep was used until the end of the sixteenth century;55

however, seven instances of take a sleep from the seventeenth century are included in

the Chadwyck-Healey Early English Fiction database, in contrast to three instancesfrom the sixteenth century. In the Chadwyck-Healey English Verse Drama database,

three instances are found from the sixteenth century, 11 from the seventeenthcentury, two from the eighteenth century, and one from the twentieth century. The

OED itself cites three instances of take a sleep from the eighteenth and nineteenthcenturies. The following examples provide several early instances of this CP:

(15)(a) But I make to God a vowe, that neuer will I take one sound and restfullsleepe, vntill I haue dispatched that infamous fact . . .56

. . ., and to free me from all noyse that I might take a little sleepe,57

According to Wierzbicka, take a sleep is not permitted in PDE, but rather, fall onslepe (now, fall asleep) and go to sleep have appeared in its place.58 When the verb

take as a CP verb loses its eventivity, another verb or verbal expression seems toassume its eventivity and take its place (e.g., fall in love; catch cold; fall on sleep, go to

sleep).Early instances of fall into a sleep can be found from the sixteenth to eighteenth

centuries, as in (16)(a) and (b) from the Chadwyck-Healey Early English ProseFiction database, and in (16)(c) from the OED.

(16)(a) For when he is a bedde with you, and fallen into his first sleepe, we will sendehym into an other place,59

(b) Whosoever drawes them on, shall suddenly fall into so deepe a sleepe,60

(c) She fell into a sleep which held four days . . .61

[She fell into a sleep which held four days . . .]

2.4 CPs with Have and Take Followed by Mental Objects

Originally, CPs with have were used much more frequently than those with take to

express mental activity, although the OED shows that the verb take has been followedby mental objects since the thirteenth century.62 In the fifteenth, sixteenth, and

seventeenth centuries, the verbs have and take were both followed by mental objects,though with exceptions such as have/take pity on and take/have a thought, these

55OED, s.v. sleep, def. 1.56Early English Prose Fiction, see William Painter, The Palace of Pleasure, Tome 2. 1567.57Early English Prose Fiction, see Roger Boyle: Parthenissa, Part 1. 1655.58Wierzbicka, 795.59Early English Prose Fiction, see William Painter: The Palace of Pleasure, Tome 1. 1566.60J.S. Clidamas, 1639.61Quotation from London Magazine, 147.1, 1764, in OED, s.v. sleep, sb. def. 3a.62OED, s.v. take, def. 50.

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usages do not occur in PDE. There follows a list of mental objects employed in CPswith have/take in prose and drama by century:

(17)(a) prose:

Fifteenth century: anger, aue, comfort, consideracioun, consideraunce, corage,counsel, credence, deinte, delectacioun, deliberacioun, delite, devocioun,

displesure, doubte, favour, fer, gladness, hed, heviness, impressioun, ire, joie,jugement, knouing, knouleche, knoulechinge, love, merci, merveille, mirthe, pite,

plesaunce, regard, repentaunce, reuthe, reward, savour, sorwe, suspecioun,thought, wonder, worshipeSixteenth century: care, comfort, compassion, conceit, contentment, counsel,

courage, delight, heart, heed, knowledge, love, mind, opinion, pity, plesureSeventeenth century: affection, anger, care, comfort, compassion, conceit,

confidence, counsel, courage, delight, fancy, guess, heart, interest, knowledge,love, mercy, notice, opinion, pity, pleasure, resolution

(b) drama:Sixteenth century: care, compassion, confidence, delight, fancy, favour, heart,

knowledge, notice, pleasureSeventeenth century: affection, care, comfort, compassion, conceit, confidence,

courage, delight, fancy, favour, heart, interest, knowledge, mercy, mind, notice,opinion, pity, pleasure, resolution

Take first appeared as a CP verb in the following CPs in the years indicated inparentheses:

(18) take care (1599), take compassion (1590), take courage (1490), take delight

(1483), take displeasure (1489), take grief (1533), take liking (1570), teke mercyof (1523), take notice (1592), take a pride to (1597), take scorn at (1561), take

sight of (1595), take a view of (1476), take pacience (1500)63

From an English historical linguistic point of view, mental activity in English is

expressed not only with the CP verb have, but also with the CP verb take, and CPswith take were relatively common in Early ModE.

2.5 Fixed CPs with Take

In general, the verb have has been more likely to be used in CPs concerned with

human activities, including mental activities, whereas the verb take has been morelikely either to be combined with fixed nouns64 or to be used in idiomatic

63OED, s.v. care, def. 3c; compassion, def. 2c; courage, def. 4d; delight, def. 1b; displeasure, def. 1b; grief, def. 4b;

liking, def. 4; mercy, def. 1; notice, def. 6; pride, def. 4; scorn, def. 4; sight, def. II 4c; view, def. 18; MED, s.v.

pacience, def. 17a[c].64See, for example, Benson, xxx.

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expressions, and has been less likely to be combined with mental activity objectshistorically. Fixed CPs have commonly combined the verb take with nouns related to

transport and military activities. The following list presents nouns included in CPswith take related to transport and military activities from the fifteenth, sixteenth and

seventeenth centuries.

(19) Fifteenth century: feld, journei, lande, see, ship, shippyngeSixteenth century: boat, field, horse, journey, ship, travel

Seventeenth century: boat, chair, coach, field, fire, flight, horse, lodging, road,seat, shipping

The following examples include typical uses of such nouns in CPs from different eras.

(20) (a) . . ., & þer sche toke hir shyp.65

[. . ., & there she took her ship.]

(b) . . ., he took ship himself . . .66

[. . ., he took ship himself . . .]

(c) Taking ship for Italy, he landed in the kingdom of Naples,67

[Taking ship for Italy, he landed in the kingdom of Naples,]

(21) (a) . . ., that your folke be redy forto take the feelde,68

[. . ., that your people are ready to take the field,]

(b) Therefore love arm’d in her now takes the field,69

[Therefore love armed in her now takes the field,]

(c) The Duke of Mayenne takes the Field with a powerfull Army, and follows theKing into Normandy.70

[The Duke of Mayenne takes the field with a powerful army, and follows theking into Normandy.]

3 Modification of CPs

Modification to CPs in the course of their historical development, whether entailing

the use of articles or not, involves idiomatisation. This paper uses the term‘‘idiomatization’’ specifically to refer to the formation of fixed CPs.

65See Meech and Allen, for Kempe, 60.37.66Sidney, 405.67See Salzman, Seventeenth-Century Fiction, for Wroth, Urania, 100.68Caxton’s Blanchardyn and Eglantine, 159/6.69Sidney, 201.70Dryden, 25.

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3.1 Articles

The use of articles in the noun phrases of the following CPs from the fifteenththrough to the seventeenth centuries was unsettled:

(22) (a) Fifteenth-century prose: have knowlech of, have (a/the) rule of, have warninge;

take (a/the) rule, take sorrow.(b) Sixteenth-century prose: have care of, have power to; take care of, take charge,

take counsel of, take delight to do, take pains to do, take view of.(c) Seventeenth-century prose: have leisure to; take boat, take pains to do, take

pleasure in, take pride in, take view of, take warning.

(d) Seventeenth-century drama: have feeling of, have plot; take boat, take pains todo, take pleasure in, take pride in, take view of.

Whereas the verbs and noun phrases of CPs tended to be fixed, articles sometimes

appeared, and sometimes did not, as the following examples demonstrate:

(23) (a) Yf that ye have need ony tyme of my servyse, I pray you let me haveknowlecche, and I shall nat fayle you, as I am trewe knight.71

[If you have need any time of my service, I pray you let me have knowledge,and I shall not fail you, as I am a true knight.]

(b) ‘‘My lorde,’’ seyde sir Garwayne, ‘‘of all thys I have a knowleche, which of

her dethis sore repentis me. . .’’72

[‘‘ My lord,’’ said sir Gawayne, ‘‘of all this I have knowledge, which of her

death sorely repents me. . .’’]

(24) (a) . . .; it is good to take warning by others Harmes,73

[. . .; it is good to be warned by others’ harmes,]

(b) . . ., that so the easy Fops themselves may take a warning,74

[. . ., that so the easy Fops themselves may be warned,]

(25) (a) he was enuited/ By way of honour to him, to take view/Of all thePowers . . .75

[. . .; he was invited by way of honour to him, to take a look at all thepowers . . .]

(b) We’ll take a view of it, and so reward you.76

[We’ll take a look at it, and so reward you.]

71See Vinaver, for Malory, 263.3 – 5.72Ibid., 1176.1 – 2.73Early English Prose Fiction, see Anonymous, Cynthia, 1687.74Early English Prose Fiction, see Anonymous, The London Jilt, 1683.75English Verse Drama, see Chapman, The Revenge of Bussy D’Ambois, 1613.76English Verse Drama, see Jonson, The Staple of News, 1640.

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In an earlier paper, I argue that the article had not fully developed in ME, andthat this contributed to the unsettled use of articles in CPs from Late ME through

Early ModE.77 Even in PDE, articles in CPs sometimes drop out, as in make anoise, which has given rise to make noise, which itself seems to have become a

kind of simple verb.

3.2 Adjectival Modifiers

The development of the CP take effect affords insight into the use of adjectivalmodifiers in CPs. In fifteenth-, sixteenth- and seventeenth-century prose, take effectsometimes includes a modifier and sometimes does not, as the following examples

demonstrate:

(26) (a) That this Ordenaunce begynne to take effect the x day of Marche.78

[That this Ordinaunce begin to take effect the x day of March.]

(b) . . .; which through his vehement instancy took effect, . . .79

[. . .; which through his vehement instancy took effect, . . .]

(c) And in plain verity it took expected effect for, . . .80

[And in plain verity it took expected effect for, . . .]

(d) The excuse was so handsomely designed, and much better expressed than itis here, that it took effect.81

[The excuse was so handsomely designed, and much better expressed than it

is here, that it took effect.](e) (for the curses of the credulous Portuguses had by this time taken their

desired effect), . . .82

In the fifteenth-century example (26)(a), take effect does not include an adjectivalmodifier. In the first sixteenth-century example, (26)(b), the CP does not include a

modifier, but in the second example, (26)(c), it includes the modifier expected. Inexample (26)(d) from the seventeenth century, the CP does not include a modifier,but in (26)(e) it does.

Take effect is found 78 times in the Chadwyck-Healey Early English Prose Fictiondatabase—48 times without adjectival modification, and the remaining 30 examples

with modifiers such as good, sweet, better, expected, deep, such, and no. Of these 30instances of take effect with modification, 15 occur in the sixteenth century and 15 in

the seventeenth century.

77Matsumoto, ‘‘Chapter 3,’’ 88.78Quotation from Rparl.5.105a, 1444, in MED, s.v. taken effect, ‘‘produce an effect, have a result.’’79Nashe.80Ibid., 259.81See Salzman, Seventeenth-Century Fiction, for Congreve, 504.82See Salzman, Seventeenth-Century Fiction, for Dangerfield, 383.

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However, the total number of seventeenth-century instances of take effect is morethan double the number of the sixteenth-century instances. Fifty-one per cent of the

instances of take effect from the seventeenth century include adjectival modifiers, incontrast to 30 per cent of the sixteenth-century instances.

Take effect without modification is found 14 times in the sixteenth century in theEarly English Prose Fiction database (out of 29 instances in total), and 34 times in the

seventeenth century (out of 34 instances in total). The following analysis (Table 1) ofthe Early English Prose Fiction database shows that from the sixteenth century

through the seventeenth century, use of take effect without modification began tosettle:

Analysis of the English Verse Drama database yields slightly different results

(Table 2). From the sixteenth through the seventeenth centuries, the number ofinstances of take effect without modification increased from 16 (84 per cent) to

46 (80 per cent). The difference between these and the Early English ProseFiction results may follow from differences between prose and verse drama.

3.3 Nominal Modifiers

For insight into the use of nominal modifiers in CPs, consider the developmentof take leave (of) in regard to the inclusion or non-inclusion of a possessivedeterminer such as one’s. Examples (27)(a) and (b) are from the fifteenth

century (from Malory). Examples (27)(c) and (d) are from the sixteenth century(from Deloney). Examples (27)(e) and (f) are from the seventeenth century (from

Wroth).

Table 1 take effect (Early English Prose Fiction)

+ Mod 7Mod Total

16th century 15 (51%) 14 (49%) 2917th century 15 (30%) 34 (70%) 49

Table 2 take effect (English Verse Drama Database)

+ Mod 7Mod Total

16th century 3 (16%) 16 (84%) 1917th century 12 (20%) 46 (80%) 58

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(27) (a) And than aythir toke leve of other and departed on there way.83

(b) Then Merlion toke hys leve of kynge Arthure and of the two kyngis, for to go

se hys mayster Bloyse that dwelled in Northumberlonde.84

[Then Merlion took leave of King Arthur and of the two kings, to go to see

his master Bloyse that dwelt in Northumberland.](c) Doctor Burket. . ., took leave of the widow and went to the messinger, . . .85

[Doctor Burket. . ., took leave of the widow and went to the messenger, . . .](d) The Queens Maiester taking her leave of the good wife with a Princely

kisse, . . .86

[The Queen’s Majesty taking leave of the good wife with a princely kiss, . . .](e) when he came to take leave of her,87

[. . . when he came to take leave of her,](f) He, now being to succeed his brother in his commands, took his leave of the

King and the court.88

[He, now being to succeed his brother in his commands, took leave of the

King and the court.]

Table 3 shows the distribution of instances take (one’s) leave in my corpora.Clearly, the data analysed here suggest that take one’s leave has been much more

common historically than take leave.Analysis of the Chadwyck-Healey database supports this result. All instances of

take one’s leave and take leave in the Early English Prose Fiction database appear in

the seventeenth century. Most instances in the Early Verse Drama database alsoappear in the seventeenth century, though some instances occur in the eighteenth and

nineteenth centuries (see Table 4).

4 Conclusion

In this paper, I have argued that differences in the functional characteristics of CPswith have/take followed by common deverbal objects, as well as changes in thefunctional characteristics of these CPs over the course of their historical development,

can be understood in terms of their active/passive usage and the state/eventdistinction. The active/passive contrast in meaning between CPs with have and those

with take is likely to disappear, whereas the state/event distinction between CPs withhave and those with take is still found; however, in view of the historical

idiomatization of CPs with have and take demonstrated in this study, thesedifferences seem likely to disappear completely.

83See Vinaver, for Malory, 568.8.84Ibid., 37.25 – 27.85Deloney, 242.86Ibid., 50.87See Salzman, Seventeenth-Century Fiction, for Wroth, 205.88Ibid., 121.

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Table 4 Distribution of take one’s leave/take leave in the Chadwyck-Healey Early English

Prose Fiction and English Verse Drama databases

17th Century Early English Prose Fiction English Verse Drama

take one’s leave 118 329take leave 68 97

Table 3 Distribution of Take (One’s) Leave in Author’s Corpora

15th century Malory Kempe Caxton

take one’s leave 47 24 21take leave 1 7 11

16th century Sidney Nashe Deloney Anthology 1

take one’s leave 3 3 13 6take leave 5 1 2 1

17th century (prose) Bunyan Butler Marvell Dryden Browne Anthology 2

take one’s leave 3 1 1 2 2 32take leave 0 0 2 0 1 8

17th century (drama) Comedies Tragedies

take one’s leave 9 11take leave 2 1

Sources:Malory—Vinaver, ed., Works of Sir Thomas MaloryKempe—Meech and Allen, eds., Book of Margery KempeCaxton—Caxton’s Blanchardyn and EglantineSydney, Countess of Pembroke’s ArcadiaNashe, Unfortune TravellerDeloney, NovelsAnthology 1—Salzman, ed., Anthology of Elizabethan Prose FictionBunyan, Pilgrim’s ProgressButler, Samuel ButlerMarvell, Poems & LettersDryden, WorksBrowne, LettersAnthology 2—Salzman, ed., Anthology of Seventeenth-Century FictionComedies—Five Restoration ComediesTragedies—Elizabethan and Jacobean Tragedies

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Burnley, David. ‘‘Chapter 5: Lexis and Semantics.’’ In The Cambridge History of the EnglishLanguage, Volume II: 1066–1476, edited by Norman Blake. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press, 1992.

Cattell, Ray. Syntax and Semantics, Vol. 17: Composite Predicates in English. Sydney: Academic Press,1984.

Collins CoBuild English Dictionary, edited by John Sinclair. London: HarperCollins, 1995.Curme, George O. A Grammar of the English Language, Vol. I: Parts of Speech. Boston: D.C. Heath,

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Wierzbicka, Anna. ‘‘Why can you have a drink when you can’t *have an eat?’’ Language 58 (1982):753 – 99.

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Bibliographical Notes

Texts

Middle English Texts

The Riverside Chaucer, edited by Larry D. Benson. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.[ = Chaucer]

The English Works of John Gower, edited by G. C. Macaulay. Vol. 1. The Early English Text Society,Extra Series, No. 81. 1900. Reprint, London, New York & Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1957.

Fifteenth-century prose

Caxton’s Blanchardyn and Eglantine, edited by L. Kellner. The Early English Text Society, ExtraSeries, No. 58. London, New York, & Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1890[1962]. [ = Caxton]

Meech, S.B. and H.E. Allen. eds. The Book of Margery Kempe. The Early English Text Society, No.212. 1940. Reprint, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982. [ = Mkempe]

Vinaver, E. ed. The Works of Sir Thomas Malory. 3 vols. Revised by P.J.C. Field. Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press, 1967, 1973[1990]. [ = Malory]

Sixteenth-century prose

Deloney, Thomas (?1543 – 1600). The Novels of Thomas Deloney, edited by M.E. Lawlis. Westport,Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1961. [ = Deloney]

Nashe, Thomas (1567 – 1601). The Unfortune Traveller and Other Works, edited by J.B. Steane.1872. Reprint, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1985. [ = Nashe]

Salzman, P. ed. An Anthology of Elizabethan Prose Fiction. Oxford and New York: Oxford UniversityPress, 1987. The following works are included in this publication, listed in date order: The Adventuresof Master F. J. by George Gascoigne, 3 – 81, 1573; Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit by John Lily, 85 – 150,1578; Pandosto, The Triumph of Time by Robert Greene, 153 – 204, 1588. [ = Anthology 1]

Sidney, Philip (1554 – 86). The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia, edited by M. Evans.Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1987.

Seventeenth-century prose

Bacon, Francis. (1561 – 1626). Essays. London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1975. [ = Bacon]

Browne, Sir Thomas. (1605 – 82). The Letters of Sir Thomas Browne, ed. G. Keynes. London: Faberand Faber, 1931. [ = Browne]

Bunyan, John (1628 – 88). The Pilgrim’s Progress, ed. R. Sharroc. 1965. Reprint, Harmondsworth:Penguin Books, 1975. [ = Bunyan]

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Butler, Samuel (1612 – 80). Samuel Butler: Prose Observations, edited by Hugh De Quehen. Oxford:Oxford University Press, 1979. [ = Butler]

Dryden, John. (1631 – 1700). The Works of John Dryden Vol. 18. Prose: The History of The League,edited by A. Roper. Berkeley, Los Angeles & London: University of California Press, 1974.[ = Dryden]

Early English Prose Fiction (1500 – 1700), Literature Online by Chadwyck-Healey, UK. (over 200complete works in fictional prose) http://www.library.ubc.ca/ssp/evd/ August 19, 2003.

Marvell, Andrew. (1621 – 78). The Poems & Letters of Andrew Marvell. Vol. II: Letters, edited byH. M. Margoliouth. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1952. [ = Marvel]

Salzman, P. ed. An Anthology of Seventeenth-Century Fiction. Oxford & New York: OxfordUniversity Press, 1991. The following works are included in this publication, listed in date order:Urania by Mary Wroth, 3 – 208, 1621; The Princess Cloria by Percy Herbert, 211 – 247, 1653/1661;The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish, 251 – 348, 1666; Don Tomazo by Thomas Dangerfield,351 – 445, 1680; The Life and Death of Mr Badman by John Bunyan, 449 – 470, 1681; Incognita byWilliam Congreve, 473 – 525,1692; The Unfortunate Happy Lady by Aphra Behn, 529 – 553, 1698.[ = Anthology 2]

Eighteenth-century fiction

Eighteenth Century Fiction (1700 – 1780), Literature Online by Chadwyck-Healy, UK. (96 completeworks in English Prose).

Sixteenth and seventeenth-century drama

Elizabethan and Jacobean Comedies. Kent: Ernest Benn, 1984. The following works included in thispublication are listed in date order: The Old Wife’s Tale by George Peele, 9 – 62, 1595; TheShoemaker’s Holiday by Thomas Dekker. 75 – 167, 1600; Eastward Ho! by Ben Jonson, GeorgeChapman, and John Marston, 177 – 287, 1605; Bartholmew Fair by Ben Jonson, 307 – 480, 1614; TheMalcontent by John Marston, 489 – 585, 1604; A Trick To Catch the Old One by Thomas Middleton,591 – 686, 1608.

Elizabethan and Jacobean Tragedies. Kent: Ernest Benn, 1984. The following works included in thispublication are listed in date order: The Spanish Tragedy by Thomas Kyd, 5 – 139, 1595; DoctorFaustus by Christopher Marlow, 146 – 231, 1624; Sejanus His Fall by Ben Jonson, 253 – 363, 1603;Women Beware Women by Thomas Middleton, 381 – 486, 1657; The White Devil by John Webster,493 – 628, 1612; Tis Pity She’s a Whore by John Ford, 643 – 731, 1633.

English Verse Drama, Literature Online by Chadwyck-Healey, UK. (more than 2,200 works byaround 500 named and over 300 anonymous works from the late thirteenth to the end of thenineteenth century). http://www.library.ubc.ca/ssp/eepf/ August 19, 2003.

Five Restoration Comedies. London: A & C Black, 1984. The following works included in thispublication are listed in date order: The Man of Mode by Sir George Etherege, 9 – 143, 1676; ThePlain Dealer by William Wycherley, 167 – 332, 1676; Love for Love by William Congreve, 340 – 461,1695; The Provoked Wife by Sir John Vanbrugh, 467 – 575, 1697.

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