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Raising and Control Predicates

The document discusses the differences between control verbs, ECM (Exceptional Case Marking) verbs, and raising predicates in relation to their grammatical roles and structures. Control verbs assign theta roles to their subjects and require an implicit subject (PRO), while ECM verbs allow explicit subjects and determine case. Raising predicates involve movement of the subject from a complement clause to the main clause, often using expletive pronouns, and differ from control verbs in their syntactic behavior.

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Franco Suarez
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8 views11 pages

Raising and Control Predicates

The document discusses the differences between control verbs, ECM (Exceptional Case Marking) verbs, and raising predicates in relation to their grammatical roles and structures. Control verbs assign theta roles to their subjects and require an implicit subject (PRO), while ECM verbs allow explicit subjects and determine case. Raising predicates involve movement of the subject from a complement clause to the main clause, often using expletive pronouns, and differ from control verbs in their syntactic behavior.

Uploaded by

Franco Suarez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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1)CONTROL, ECM AND RAISING PREDICATES

All these verbs select an infinitival clause as a complement but they


are different. Let´s see them one by one:

I want PRO to have a cup of coffee and croissants val 2

Exp theme

PRO To have/ get/drink/ eat a cup of coffee and croissants val 2

Agent patient

CONTROL VERBS
A control predicate (verb) assigns a theta role to its subject
and its complement.

Want: valency 2
I want to study grammar
He/him/his/
Dative case
Nominative/subject case
Objective case
Genitive case
PRO is controlled by the grammatical subject “I”, this is a
case of SUBJECT CONTROL, PRO gets its reference from “I”
and shares the same features( common, singular, 1st person,
pronoun), the difference is that “I” receives NOMINATIVE
CASE and PRO doesn´t because otherwise it would be
pronounced ( NULL CASE)
But in…….

I want you to study grammar val2


Exp theme

You to study grammar


Actor theme(by default)

YOU is the explicit subject of the non-finite clause


( something which is allowed in English but NOT in Spanish,
in Spanish we need a finite clause
eg: pro quieroque (vos) estudies gramática)
So……if the complement of want has an explicit subject,
“want”isn´t a CONTROL VERB, there is no silent, no PRO to
control and YOU gets a theta role from “study”.

Let´s look at the verb persuade valency 3, persuade


needs an animate argument.

I persuaded her to read all the bibliography


Source goal theme

I persuaded her that she should study grammar

In the subordinate clause “study” has an explicit subject(she)


but persuade assigns a theta role to her (affected) but her
is coreferential with “she”. This is
OBJECT CONTROL
Other verb: tell, ask, order, try, urge, oblige, promise.

EXCEPTIONAL CASE MARKING VERBS


They are monotransitive verbs which select one complement
clause. They are valency 2

Now let´s look at the verb believe valency 2

I believe her to be sincere


Exp small clause: theme

Her to be sincere val 1


theme

Her/him has objective case and is the explicit subject of the


non-finite clause
Believe is an ECM( Exceptional case marking) verb because it
determines the accusative case of the pronoun

We can say……

She is believedt to be sincere


She moves ( argument movement) to become the
grammatical subject of the sentence

Now look at Expect valency 2

I expect him to study

“I” is the grammatical subject of the sentence and him is the


explicit subject of the infinitive clause and it receives
objective case from expect (Exceptional case marking verb)
so in…
He is expectedt to study (argument movement)

I expect PRO to pass the test


Here expect is a CONTROL VERB because PRO is controlled
by “I”, PRO is the invisible subject of the infinitival clause but
it has all the features of “I”

RAISING PREDICATES

They are valency one predicates, in the case of verbs, they


are intransitive verbs that select a complement clause and
have originally no subject.

Sure, certain, likely, bound(adjectives)

………is sure Mary to arrive on time


Mary is sure t to arrive on time

Mary rises to subject position to receive nominative case


and to be the subject of the sentence
….is likely that he will come
It is likely that he will come

“It” is an expletive IT, a pronoun, it has phonological


content, it is not an empty category, it is not referential.

…….seems that he will come


It seems that he will come
It is an expletive pronoun, it´s not an argument, it doesn´t
receive a theta role, it is phonological realized, it´s not
referential, it´s not an empty category. It is a SLOT FILLER.

John seems t to be asleep


John isn´t an argument of seem,it gets its theta role from
asleep.

These are one place intransitive verbs which select only one
complement clause and have originally no subject.
The NP John cannot remain in that position because it doesn
´t receive case there. On the other hand, all finite clauses
must have an overt subject in English, so the NP John rises to
subject of seems in order to be assigned nominative case.
These verbs are called “raising” because the embedded
subject always moves out of the complement clause and
rises to subject of the conjugated verb.
Some raising verbs:
• Seem, happen, turn out, tend, appear + infinitival clause
• Aspectual verbs: begin, start, continue, stop, tend, etc.

…….seems to me that john is asleep


It seems to me that john is asleep
Seem selects two arguments: to me (experiencer) and the
that clause(theme)
Some differences between control and raising verbs:

Sam preferred to stop CONTROL VERB

Sam seemed to stop RAISING VERB

 One can form the passive of a control predicate but not


of a raising predicate

To stop was preferred by Sam


*To stop was seemed by Sam

 The expletive there can often combine with a raising


predicate but not control

*There preferred to be objections


There seemed to be objections

 Raising often allows the alternative formulation with


expletive it and a full clause or the infinitive
*It preferred that Sam stopped
It seemed that Sam stopped
Raising predicates imply movement
Many predicates can license control or raising based on
context eg: want and expect.

PRACTICE
Look at the following sentences and identify the type of verb

 There seems to be a vampire in the city


 Samir is anxious to leave
 I want to meet George Klooney
 The doctor seems to have examined the patient
 Marla believes Bradford to be incompetent
 I consider my students to be conscientious
 He stopped to read grammar 1 notes again
 She turned out to be a customs broker
 It seemed to be easy
 They believed us to be right
Videos
Raising predicates

https://youtu.be/xrGjDH5ToHg

CONTROL VERBS

https://youtu.be/BmgzZlauASk

BOTH
https://youtu.be/SYoYNeaSYrU

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