Extraposition in English and Swedish 241
The English and Swedish correspondences to extrapositions are given in Table 3
(extrapositions in the Swedish sample) and Table 4 (extrapositions in the English
sample), respectively.
Table 3. English correspondences to Swedish extrapositions
Swedish
extrapositions
English correspondences
Congruent Nonextraposition Noncongruent Total
Att-clause 73 0 63 136
Infin. clause 163 0 73 236
Total 236 0 136 372
Table 4. Swedish correspondences to English extrapositions
English
extrapositions
Swedish correspondences
Congruent Nonextraposition Noncongruent Total
That-clause 73 2 26 101
To-infin. clause 163 5 36 204
Total 236 7 62 305
More than three quarters of the extrapositions in the English sample (77.4% of
the total number: 72.2% of the extraposed that-clauses, and 79.9 of the extra-
posed to-infinitival clauses) are matched by congruent extrapositions in Swedish,
as exemplified by (13) and (14). This is somewhat higher than the proportion of
extrapositions in the Swedish sample that are matched by congruent extraposi-
tions in English (63.4% of the total number: 53.6% of the extraposed att-clauses,
and 69.0 of the extraposed infinitival clauses.
(13) It is unlikely that he received any kind of sexual education from his drunken
father and his cold mother, (RF1)
Det är inte speciellt troligt att han fick någon sexualundervisning av sin alko-
holiserade far eller sin kalla och okänsliga mor. (RF1T)
‘It is not particularly likely that ...’
(14) Det är en mäktig upplevelse att vandra runt i Skattkammaren.
‘It is a powerful experience to ...’ (GAPG1)
It is an uplifting experience to wander around the Treasury. (GAPG1T)
The English and Swedish correspondences to nonextrapositions are given in
Table 5 (extrapositions in the Swedish sample) and Table 6 (extrapositions in the
English sample), respectively.