The Category P Features, Projections, Interpretation

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(19) a. the destruction of the city by John…
b. John’s destruction of the city…
.
The same obtains in Hebrew e-Ns, the suppressed external argument of an e-N
can license an al-yedey (‘by’)–phrase or a Genitive possessor phrase (20):
(20) a. ha-nikuy šel ha-šati’ax al-yedey dan nimšax ša’ot
the-cleaning of the-carpet by-Dan lasted hours
“Cleaning the carpet by Dan lasted for hours.”
b. ha-nikuy šel dan et ha-šati’ax nimšax ša’ot
the-cleaning of Dan Acc the-carpet lasted hours
“Dan’s cleaning the carpet lasted for hours.”
Note, however, that neither the by-phrase nor the Genitive possessor phrase is
licensed in object gap constructions: 14
(21) a. *ha-šati’ax kaše le-nikuy al-yedey dan/šel dan
the-carpet [is] difficult to-cleaning by-Dan/of Dan
b. *dan hevi et ha-oto le-cvi’a al-yedey xamiša cabaim/ šel xamiša caba’im
Dan brought Acc the-car to-painting by five painters/of five painters
If these phrases are licensed by the suppressed Agent, the ungrammaticality of
(21) may suggest that there is no (suppressed) Agent in the nominals in (21).
Consider, however, (22), where an Instrument phrase related to the nominal
introduced by le- is grammatical:
(22) ha-šati’ax haya kal le-nikuy im ha-šo’ev ha-xadaš
the-carpet was easy to-cleaning with the-vacuum cleaner the-new
“The carpet was easy to clean with the new vacuum cleaner.”
14 In the Hebrew TC headed by a deverbal adjective nitan (lit. ‘[is] given’, meaning ‘possible’), but not
in the TC headed by a pure adjective such as kal (‘easy’), a generic nominal (team of workers) is rather
acceptable:
(i) ha-šati’ax nitan le-nikuy al-yedey *dan/?cevet ovdim meyuman
the-carpet [is] possible to-cleaning by-Dan /team workers experienced