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After I posted the question Can relative clauses be combined with adverbial clauses other than if-clauses? and got no answer, I realized that this might be something to do with adjunct island constraint. But, then, another question came to my mind: Doesn't Swan's example sentence violate adjunct island constraint?

I quote again from Michael Swan's Practical English Usage:

Relative clauses can also be combined with if-clauses in sentences like the following.

I am enclosing an application form, which I should be grateful if you would sign and return.

According to this article if-clause is one of the conditional adjuncts.

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Aki
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  • What's an "island adjunct constraint"? I've never heard of that before. 2. In what ways does Swan's sentence override it? His sentence is perfectly grammatical and makes semantic sense. I'll just wait until someone comments and/or writes an answer.
    • – Mari-Lou A Nov 20 '17 at 15:30
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    It still sounds wrong to me. I prefer I would be grateful, were you to sign and return it. – Nigel J Nov 20 '17 at 16:06
  • @Mari-LouA, 1: here is the explanation. 2: according to this article since-clause is one of the temporal adjuncts. – Aki Nov 20 '17 at 16:12
  • It seems OK to me. "Which" is a prenucleus that functions in the if clause as object of "return". – BillJ Nov 20 '17 at 16:16
  • @Aki I have no hesitation in admitting I am way out of my depth here. I would need all evening to understand the subject in the first link, the second is much easier. I look forward to seeing an answer :) – Mari-Lou A Nov 20 '17 at 16:19
  • @Mari-LouA, I'm reading about syntax recently. About 2, I should have written "if-clause is one of conditional adjuncts". I mixed it up with my previous question. – Aki Nov 20 '17 at 16:25
  • I agree with @Mari-LouA here. Although it's stylistically unpleasant, the sentence is clear and syntactically correct. The question and sourcing point to the inherent difference between language and linguistics, and the patent absurdity of trying to learn the one through the application of the other - rather like learning to cook by reading a Wikipedia article on organic chemistry. – Rob_Ster Nov 20 '17 at 16:27
  • @BillJ, I know. Is that the violation of the constraint? – Aki Nov 20 '17 at 16:28
  • No. Constituents that do not allow gaps within them are often called called 'islands'. But that's not the case here: The prenucleus element "which" is cross-indexed to "gap" with i : "I am enclosing an application form, which (i) I should be grateful if you would sign and return ___ (i). As you can see the constituent "if you would sign and return" permits a terminal gap "__". – BillJ Nov 20 '17 at 16:29
  • What about the following example: *[DP What]i did he go home before Mary finished [DP e]i? from wikipedia? – Aki Nov 20 '17 at 16:34
  • Ungrammatical of course. Can you get your head around X-Bar theory? – BillJ Nov 20 '17 at 16:44
  • @Rob_Ster , sometimes organic chemistry helps cooking, and wikipedia too. – Aki Nov 20 '17 at 16:51
  • Incidentally, the "wh" movement that Wiki talks of is the X-Bar equivalent of the more general (and intuitive) "prenucleus-gap" approach that I used to analyse your example. – BillJ Nov 20 '17 at 16:53
  • @BillJ, which means? – Aki Nov 20 '17 at 16:55
  • I read Aki’s links and wholly failed to see their relevance. Sorry, Aki.

    Why does anyone think should and would have different meanings here than generally, please?

    Take a squint at https://www.ecenglish.com/learnenglish/lessons/will-would-shall-should for instance.

     – Robbie Goodwin Nov 28 '17 at 04:03
  • @RobbieGoodwin, which link are you talking about ?. This question is nothing to do with the difference between "would" and "should". – Aki Dec 01 '17 at 14:14
  • Uh… Your links, Aki; the ones you posted in your Question.

    Both your main Question above and your first link from it, seem to rely for their real meaning on would or should if not both.

     – Robbie Goodwin Dec 01 '17 at 18:06
  • @RobbieGoodwin, read our discussion above. We are taking about whether adverbial clauses allow gaps within them. – Aki Dec 02 '17 at 00:21
  • Really? You have fun with and please, be sure to walk before you try to run. – Robbie Goodwin Dec 02 '17 at 23:52
  • @RobbieGoodwin, Yes, sir! – Aki Dec 03 '17 at 13:05