"Heavy NP shift" is a particular manifestation of shifting where a "heavy" noun phrase (NP) appears in a position to the right of its canonical position under certain circumstances. Although the term is coined according to the tradition of transformational grammar, which describes the process to be done by movement of the NP, the term is also used by linguists who do not believe in transformational grammar. Heaviness is determined by the grammatical complexity. Ross (1967) may have been the first to look at heavy NP shift in some detail. See the article on shifting for examples and discussion.
Famous quotes containing the words heavy and/or shift:
“Men will tell you sometimes that “money’s hard.” That shows it was not made to eat, I say.... Some of those who sank with the steamer the other day found out that money was heavy too.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I will use the world and sift it,
To a thousand humors shift it,
As you spin a cherry.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)