243“take it for what it is worth” and 1 example of “consider it for what is worth”)
and 2 were (ambiguously) adjunct uses:
(17) a. Well, for what it’s worth , I’m a psychiatrist (2003 YR)
b. without my input. And for what it’s worth , which apparently means noth-
ing to you (2006 YR)
These are indeterminate between parenthetical and adjunct uses. In (17a), the
intended meaning may be ‘I’m saying this for whatever value my saying it
might have’ (the parenthetical reading) or ‘I’m saying this for whatever value
I may have as a psychiatrist’ (the adjunct reading).
8.3.1.2 Synchronic Source(s) of For What It’s Worth. Synchronic evi-
dence suggests that there are three possible sources for parenthetical for what
it’s worth :
(a) a source in which for what it’s worth functions as an adjectival adjunct
modifying a noun phrase ( conclusion , opinion , view , judgment ) (18a– b);
(b) a source in which for what it’s worth is the complement of a structure such
as I tell you it , I give it to you , you can take it (18c– d);
(c) a source in which for what it’s worth is an adverbial adjunct modifying a
clause of communication (18e– g).
174
3368(^3432)
7
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
All Spoken Fiction Magazine Newspaper Academic
Frequency per million
Figure 8.3 Distribution of for what it is/ ’s worth by subcorpus in COCA
(Searched March 20, 2016.)
8.3 For What It’s Worth