Language question.

[Fish]

This line;
"..and I saw an airplane hit the tower.

Does it mean; I "saw" a plane hit the tower, or could it be also: I saw a plane had hit the tower?

[ASWnut101]

What?

[Fish]

Originally Posted by ASWnut101

What?

Sorry, was in a hurry. Edited

[CCIP]

Originally Posted by Fish

This line;
"..and I saw an airplane hit the tower.

Does it mean; I "saw" a plane hit the tower, or could it be also: I saw a plane hd hit the tower?

I think "saw" refers to the whole following clause ("an airplane hit the tower") = [I saw [an airplane hit the tower]]. That is, you saw the action take place, not just the airplane. It wouldn't make any sense if it only referred to the airplane. If you analyzed it that way then 'saw an airplane' would have to be its own constituent, and it would be really unclear what 'hit' - if you analyzed it as [[I saw an airplane] hit the tower], it would imply something along the lines of a huge neon sign saying "I saw an airplane" hitting the tower.

/BA in Linguistics, working on MA in Applied Linguistics

[Torplexed]

The sentence has the word 'saw' in in it. Carpenters and their planes are therefore suspect...

[Fish]

Originally Posted by CCIP

I think "saw" refers to the whole following clause ("an airplane hit the tower") = [I saw [an airplane hit the tower]]. That is, you saw the action take place, not just the airplane. It wouldn't make any sense if it only referred to the airplane. If you analyzed it that way then 'saw an airplane' would have to be its own constituent, and it would be really unclear what 'hit' - if you analyzed it as [[I saw an airplane] hit the tower], it would imply something along the lines of a huge neon sign saying "I saw an airplane" hitting the tower.

/BA in Linguistics, working on MA in Applied Linguistics

Its about this:
Bush told, he saw the plane hit the tower but there where no images at that moment.
So, I thought he just means he know the plane hit the tower, not he saw?

[CCIP]

We're not sure which plane he's talking about. I'm sure he's talking about the second plane.

Given that even if he was told at that point, he possibly didn't know what was going on. I think this video says nothing unless we see him talk about TWO airplanes. I myself certainly didn't, and I didn't even learn anything until both towers were actually down.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by CCIP

We're not sure which plane he's talking about. I'm sure he's talking about the second plane.

Given that even if he was told at that point, he possibly didn't know what was going on. I think this video says nothing unless we see him talk about TWO airplanes. I myself certainly didn't, and I didn't even learn anything until both towers were actually down.

Thanks.