"Socrates whatted in 399 B.C.?" "Drank the hemlock"

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He is considering the nonexistence of 'pro-verbs' in English, Greek or Latin.

---

"There MIGHT have been ... a class of
expressions parallel to [interrogative
pronouns -- "where", "when", "why" --]
and which would serve to make inquiries
about INDEFINITE REFERENCES to the
category of items which predicates
ascribe to subjects."



i. Socrates whatted in 399 B.C.?
ii. Drank the hemlock.

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"Given that he did drink the hemlock in 399 B.C., we MIGHT have been able to say as per below"

iii. There! I KNEW he somewhatted in 399 B.C.

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(S. R. Bayne has considered similar views).

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Instead of i.

we do get

iv. What did Socrates do in 399 B.C.?

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Grice's view:

"In is capacity as part of
a makeshift pro-verb, 'do' can
stand in for (be replaceably by)
ANY verb whatsoever."

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which explains why, "What did the butler DO?" is so silly!