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Descriptive grammar year 2

Lecture 12: Raising and control

Descriptive grammar 12, year 2

2

Verb arguments

• Clause

event

• Event

verb, participant(s)

• Participant

NP or a subordinate clause

• Participant

= argument with its own

semantic (thematic) role (agent, patient,
etc.).

• The external argument of the V

= the

subject (outside the VP)

Descriptive grammar 12, year 2

3

Raising

• Raising

= an argument embedded in the

to-infinitive clause is raised (= moved) to
another position in the matrix clause
(=main clause).

• Types of raising:

– raising-to-object

– raising-to-subject

• Subordinate clause = embedded clause

Descriptive grammar 12, year 2

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Raising to object

• (1a)

Mary believed

[S [

NP

Sam the

butcher

]

to be innocent

].

• the deep structure
• NP subject in the embedded clause.
• Movement transformation ensues:

• (b)

Mary believed

[

NP

Sam the butcher

] [S

___

to be innocent

].

• The NP embedded subject moves up to the

direct object position of the main clause

Descriptive grammar 12, year 2

5

Raising to object

• Answers why the postverbal NP has the

properties of both the subject and the object (cf.
Lecture 11).

– Deep structure: assignment of semantic roles

happens there, so

– Sam the butcher

is semantically the subject of

to be

innocent

.

– BUT:

Sam the butcher

raises to become the direct

object of

believe

(at the surface structure), so

– any rules which apply to direct objects (e.g.

passivization) will be able to apply to this NP.

Descriptive grammar 12, year 2

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Raising to object

• Accounts for the case-marking facts:

• (2)

Cindy believes her / *she

[ ___

a

genius

].

– The to-inf. cl. means ‘Cindy (she) is a genius’

– But she is ungrammatical – why?

– She was the subject of the to-inf. cl.

– Now it’s the object + accusative case.

2

Descriptive grammar 12, year 2

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Raising to object

• Accounts for the use of reflexive pronouns.
• (3)

Cindy

i

believes herself

i

/

her

*

i

[ ___

to

be a genius

].

– raising to object takes an embedded

argument and makes it a clause-mate to the
subject of the main verb

– The reflexive pron. is now licensed.

• Raising to object changes the grammatical

relations of the arguments of a clause.

Descriptive grammar 12, year 2

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Different patterns of

complementation

• (4)

We didn’t

intend

(for) you to do all the work

.

• (5)

It wasn’t

intended

for you to do all the work

.

• Testing the structure: (4)

We didn’t intend

that

;

For you to do all the work wasn’t intended

.

• (5) extraposition of the passive subject (the for-

clause)

– Intend

is like

prefer

, a two-argument verb (monotrans)

– BUT…

Descriptive grammar 12, year 2

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Different patterns of

complementation

• (6)

You have not

intended

to do all the work

.

– a well-formed passive

– so

intend

here is like

believe

with raising to object

transformation

• (7)

They

ordered

us to leave the room

.

• (8)

The Red Queen

ordered

Alice’s head to be

cut off

.

– (7)

us

– recipient of the V

order

(IO);

order

is

ditransitive – a three-argument verb

Descriptive grammar 12, year 2

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Different patterns of

complementation

• (8)

The Red Queen

ordered

Alice’s head

to be cut off

.

– Alice’s head

– not the recipient of

order

but

subject of the to-inf. cl.;

order

– monotrans – a

two-argument verb.

– (9)

The Red Queen ordered [

there

to be

peace and quiet ].

Descriptive grammar 12, year 2

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Subjectless to-infinitive clauses

• (10)

The dog wants to drink

.

• contains object clause whose subject is

not lexically filled (= unexpressed, covert
subjects):

• (10a)

The dog wants

[

S

PRO

to drink

].

– the deep structure: V +

NP

+ to-infinitive

– The NP is unexpressed at the surface

structure.

Descriptive grammar 12, year 2

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Control

• The NP subject in the main clause

controls

the subject position in the

subordinate clause,

• that is why PRO is interpreted as

the dog

.

• PRO = an empty category – all clauses

must have a subject, even if it’s not stated.

• The subject in the matrix clause = the

controller

/

antecedent

of PRO.

3

Descriptive grammar 12, year 2

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Control

• (11)

The dog wants

[PRO

i

to enjoy itself

i

]

– the clause-mate antecedent of

itself

is the

unexpressed subject PRO.

• the controller NP

the dog:

both the

underlying subject in the deep structure
and the surface subject of

want.

• There was no raising transformation.

• Control Vs:

want, decide, wish, hope,

etc.

Descriptive grammar 12, year 2

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Control

• (12)

We

tried

[

S

PRO

to lift the stone

].

• (13)

The protesters

refused

[

S

PRO

to

move on

].

• (14)

The janitor

agreed

[

S

PRO

to let us

in

].

• (15)

I’d

like

[

S

PRO

to be a cloud

].

Descriptive grammar 12, year 2

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Raising in passive sentences

• (16a

) I

intend

[

(for) the political parts of

the book to reveal many things

].

• (16b)

The political parts of the book

[VP

were

intended

[S ___

to reveal many

things

]].

– (16a) the NP

the political parts of the book

–

the subject of the subordinate clause.

– (16b) the NP

the political parts of the book

–

the subject of the matrix clause, the to-inf
clause lacks an overt subject.

Descriptive grammar 12, year 2

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Raising in passive sentences

• Passivization:

– suppression of the original subject of

intend

(

I

),

– the leftward movement of the subject of the

to-infinitive clause (

the political parts of the

book

) = raising from subject to subject

position (subject to subject raising).

– a gap in the position of the subject of the to-

infinitive clause (not a PRO).

• Raising Vs:

intend, think, expect, say,

etc.

Descriptive grammar 12, year 2

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Raising with intransitive verbs

• (17a)

The city council

seems

[

S

___

to

prefer blue traffic lights

].

• (17b)

It

seems

[

S

that the city council

prefers blue traffic lights]

.

– (17a) the V + to-infinitive pattern,

– (17b) is a paraphrase of (17a) with a finite

clause and obligatory extraposition: *

That the

city council prefers blue traffic lights seems

.

Descriptive grammar 12, year 2

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Raising with intransitive verbs

• Seem

(and other raising intransitive Vs) –

a one-place verb, i.e. it takes only one
argument – the subject,

• BUT:

• There is no thematic subject:

the city

council

cannot be the semantic argument

of the matrix clause,

– i.e.

seem

has no external argument.

4

Descriptive grammar 12, year 2

19

Raising with intransitive verbs

• (17b): the only argument of

seems

is the

extraposed that-clause,

• The expletive

it

has no thematic role.

• Cf. control verbs:

– take a thematic subject which controls the subject

position (PRO) in the infinitive clause complement.

• (17a): no extraposition because non-finite

clauses cannot be extraposed.

– Obligatory raising instead.

Descriptive grammar 12, year 2

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Raising with intransitive verbs

• (17c)

*The city council seems John to

prefer blue traffic lights

.

– the empty subject position of the non-finite

clause cannot be filled by lexical material.

• (18a)

Children seem

to me

to like bedtime

stories

.

• (18b)

It seems

to me

that children like

bedtime stories

.

– Seem + optional participant, usually a PP.

Descriptive grammar 12, year 2

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Descriptive grammar 12, year 2

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Raising with intransitive verbs

• (18c) *

Children seem to me

[

S

PRO

to like

bedtime stories

].

• (18d)

Children seem to me

[

S

____

to like

bedtime stories

].

– Seem

is a raising verb, not a control verb: a

gap in place of the raised subject.

Descriptive grammar 12, year 2

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Raising with intransitive verbs

• (19a)

There

seems

[ __ to

be

some

trouble here / ___ to have

occurred

a

shooting incident

.

– subject

there

may be separated from its

existential verb (

be, exist

, etc.) by

seem

after

raising.

• (19b)

There seem(s) *to like bedtime

stories / *to prefer blue traffic lights

.

– Existential

there

– a subject of existential

verbs only.

Descriptive grammar 12, year 2

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Raising with intransitive verbs

• (20a)

It seems [ __ to rain a lot here]

.

– A construction with a raised expletive

it

-subject.

• (20b) *

It seems [ __ to be some trouble here]

.

– existential verb

be

requires existential subject

there

.

• (21a) *

The girl seems [ __to meet very often]

.

• (21b)

The girls seem [ __to meet very often]

.

• (21c)

Jennie and Susan seem [ __ to meet very

often]

.

– Meet

– a one-argument V, allows only the subject.

– The subject must be plural.

5

Descriptive grammar 12, year 2

25

Raising with intransitive verbs

• (22a)

Modern poetry

appears

to throw some

people into confusion

.

• (22b) It

appears

that modern poetry throws

some people into confusion.

• (23a)

I just

happened

to know the answer

.

• (23b) It just

happened

that I knew the answer.

• (24a)

The latest numbers

turn out

to indicate a

healthy upturn

.

• (24b) It

turns out

that the latest numbers

indicate a healthy upturn.

Descriptive grammar 12, year 2

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Raising

• Cf. Polish equivalents:

• Okazało si

ę

,

ż

e nie znam odpowiedzi. /

*Okazałem si

ę

nie zna

ć

odpowiedzi

.

• Not every rising verb allows both finite and

non-finite constructions:

• (25a)

There

proved

to be toxins in the

soap

.

• (25b) *

It

proved

that there were toxins in

the soap

. [not the same as (25a)]

Descriptive grammar 12, year 2

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Raising

• (26)

Power

tends

to corrupt people

. (‘ma

zwyczaj’)

• (27)

There

threatens

to be another flu

epidemic

. (‘istnieje gro

ź

ba, zagra

ż

a’)

• (28)

The debate

promises

to be lively

.

(‘zanosi si

ę

na to,

ż

e’, ‘zapowiada si

ę

’)

Descriptive grammar 12, year 2

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Raising adjectives

• (29a)

John is

likely

[

S

__

to propose to Mary

].

– The subordinate clause means: ‘John will propose to

Mary’.

– The NP

John

originated in the to-inf clause as subject

of

propose

,

– It was then raised to the subject position in the main

clause leaving a gap in the to-inf cl.

• (29b)

It is

likely

that John will propose to Mary

.

– A paraphrase with a finite clause and extraposition is

possible.

Descriptive grammar 12, year 2

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Raising adjectives

• The NP subject leaves a gap which cannot

be filled by a lexical NP: *

John is likely Bill

to propose to Mary

.

• Other raising adjectives:

be sure, be

certain, be liable, be bound

• Raising – since the 19th c.

Descriptive grammar 12, year 2

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Summary: properties of raising Vs

and Adjs

• Raising only applies to the NP subject of non-

finite clauses.

• There is a gap after the raising V or Adj, which

cannot be filled by a lexical NP.

• There is usually a paraphrase with a finite

clause and it-extraposition.

• In rising patterns the subject

there

may be

separated from the existential verb it goes with
by raising:

THERE + raising V / Adj + [ ___ to be

/ exist...]

6

Descriptive grammar 12, year 2

31

Summary: properties of control Vs

• Control verbs also take non-finite clauses

as their complements.

• Difference: raising verbs in that raising

verbs operate from non-finite clauses

• Control verbs operate into non-finite

clauses.

• Control verbs do not allow

it-

extraposition

paraphrase or a

THERE + V + [ ___ to be /

exist...]

construction.