Un solo espacio

Sentences (26-29) show that both end and complete take sentential complements

(despite the fact that their most frequent occurrence is with nominals). Although the complement verbs are activities in the examples below they can be understood to be part of a larger event (especially in the case of (28) – where ‘filming’ refers to shooting a particular film, and also in (29) where ‘writing the remarks’ is part of a study on secular and domestic architecture).

(26) By the time they reached Letterkenny they were thirsty, so had a drink, and by the time they reached the shore road between Ray and Drumhallagh could not have pinpointed the cottage in the wood with any certainty to save their lives. They ended sitting high above the lough sipping from a bottle of John Powers, gazing at the lights of a house below them that could have been anybody's. "I tell you what,"

said Mallachy. (BNC)

(27) He continued: "When I turned round my brother was pointing a gun at me --; then he shot me. I was hit on the right leg and nearly fell. "When I managed to get upright I saw him cocking the gun again, thought he was going to shoot me again and moved towards him to defend myself." He had ended lying on the ground with the accused sitting on his chest. (BNC)

(28) (..) I would anticipate that we can film the whole sequence within half an hour and that we would make every effort not to disrupt the normal running of your business. Ideally, we would like to film during the morning of 13 June just after we have completed filming in York Minster. (BNC)

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(29) Scott said that, having just completed writing his Remarks on Secular and Domestic Architecture, Present and Future, the "great competition, then, found me in rather a prepared state of mind". It was probably as a result of Hall's "conclave" that, "long before the programme came out", he retired from active engagements to design suitable elements for a public building. (BNC)

The analysis on the complementation of end and complete with nominals points to

other differences between the two verbs (and the construction they appear in). While in the case of end the complement may refer to all event types (also to

states), in the case of complete the complement tends to refer only to events. End

often refers to homogeneous event types (e.g. states) (e.g. (30) refers to ‘having an interview’, and (31) to ‘having a relationship’); in such cases its meaning is similar to that of stop. When the complement of end refers to a telic event (e.g. in (32) to

‘writing or directing the play’ and also in (33) where the complement refers to ‘fighting the war’), end is more similar in meaning to finish.

(30) I know you've got some other amusing stories, I don't know if we've time just to tell one more. Have you got one other story to tell us about your shop? There are so many of them. One man came in took all his clothes off, tried on a load of things and walked out in them. I think we'd better end the interview there don't

you? (BNC)

(31) (..) If it is an illness, is there a cure --; or any hope, do you think, of a happy future for us? Or should I, reluctantly, end the relationship --; which, apart from the aggravation and the havoc, is very good and loving? She is not an irresponsible teenager. She's 32 years old. (BNC) (32) The sickening way in which Achilles sets his Myrmidons on the unarmed Hector, and then tells them to "cry you all amain, "Achilles has the might Hector slain"" shows that the morality of the Greeks is equally detestable. It is left to Pandarus to end the play, on an infected note which is perfectly fitting. (BNC) (33) Premier John Major warned of stronger sanctions against those in the conference who could end the war. Singling out the Serbs, he threatened: "No trade. No aid. No international recognition or role. (BNC)

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As distinct from end, complete seems to prefer telic occurrences (in (34)

‘completing the course’ means ‘study the respective course to the end’; similarly in sentence (35) ‘working’ refers to a telic event (is part of an event)).

(34) The course is of two years' duration. Transferability Students who successfully complete the course may transfer to the second year of the BSc Hons Mathematics, Statistics and Computing course at Jordanstown. (BNC) (35) Working out the cost of disturbance. A justifiable claim depends on loss being sustained in circumstances envisaged by the contract. The contractor's financial remedy will be defined in the contract. This should also include the cost of funding any additional money required to complete the work. (BNC)

Finally, not only complete but end, too can refer not only to the temporality of an

event but also to the event itself, as (36) shows:

(36) Even then you may have to use that extra bit of guile before you have one in the net. Chub are a confounding fish. At times you can easily "con" one into your net, and at other times you find they are less gullible. They confound you because there are times when conditions are compatible only to a warm bed yet you end the

day with a netful of fish. (BNC)

10.3.1. The complementation of finish

Finish is different both from both end and complete in that it frequently appears

with sentential –ing complements. Finish is considered to be a backward looking

construction (Egan 2003) that only takes an –ing complement form (and disallows

the to-infinitive); according to Wierzbicka (1988) this has to do with the semantics

of the aspectualizer: being a backward looking construction, finish does not express

the possibility of a future orientation. According to Wierzbicka only such aspectualizers allow for to-infinitives that express a possible future orientation. I

consider Wierzbicka’s (1988) approach a plausible one; the approach taken here coincides with her interpretation to a considerable extent.

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Another interesting explanation of the non-occurrence of the egressive aspectualizers with the to-infinitives is given by Givón (1993). Givón relates the

frequent occurrence of finish with –ing complements to the implicative nature of

the aspectualizer. He points to the fact that implicative verbs (finish and also complete) usually tend to appear with non-finite –ing complements.

As is the case with other aspectualizers that do not allow for to-infinitives as their

complement, the non-appearance of finish with to-infinitives will be understood to

be motivated by the semantic value of the aspectualizer to a great extent. Egressive aspectualizers do not express the orientation towards the further occurrence of the occurrence expressed by the complement; because of this they do not allow for to- infinitives. The meaning of the to-infinitive construction would be in a clash with

the semantic value of the respective aspectualizer (e.g. finish and complete).

When the non-finite sentential –ing construction appears as complement of finish it

gets temporalized. The finish + ing construction expresses the cessation of a

durative ongoing occurrence which often implies the presence of a result or a goal state (the prototypical meaning of the finish + ing construction). The temporal

space occupied by –ing overlaps with the temporal space of finish; that is, the right

boundary of finish can be considered to coincide with that of the –ing construction.

It is also important to note that in the case of the finish + ing construction the focus

is laid on the occurrence itself (schematic meaning) and also the moment of cessation without any expectation for a further occurrence of the complement verb.

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