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The Category P Features, Projections, Interpretation

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198<br />

.<br />

(iv) Adverbial placement:<br />

Finally, notice that the placement possibilities of the so-called quantificational<br />

adverbs (e.g. seldom, often, etc.) in the embedded constituent of object gap<br />

constructions (47b,c) are not identical to those in the embedded infinitivals elsewhere<br />

(47a):<br />

(47) a. Bart decided [ CP to (often) watch avant-guard films (often)]<br />

b. Avant-guard films are difficult [to (*often) watch (often)]<br />

c. I bought “Metropolis” [to (*often) watch (often)]<br />

On a reasonable assumption that these adverbs are interpreted in relation to an<br />

event, i.e. they need an event variable to quantify over, they can occur either VPinternally,<br />

or immediately above the VP, if the VP occurs with the tense operator (T).<br />

That the latter is ungrammatical in object gap constructions supports the claim that to<br />

in these constructions is not T.<br />

5.4.1.2 No subject position: It has been noted (Fiengo and Lasnik 1974, Jones<br />

1991), that the verbal constituent of object gap constructions resists there-insertion<br />

(48). In contrast, there-insertion is possible in the infinitival clause of the expletive<br />

subject construction headed by a tough A, or in an IR, as shown in (49):<br />

(48) a. *Bart is tough for there to be pictures of all over.<br />

b. *I chose Bart for there to be pictures of all over.<br />

(49) a. It is tough for there to be pictures of Bart all over.<br />

b. Bart is a guy for there to be pictures of all over.<br />

(Adapted from Jones 1991)<br />

As standardly assumed, expletive there occurs in the subject position. If there is<br />

no such position in the embedded constituent of object gap constructions, the<br />

ungrammaticality of (48) follows. Note, that given the grammatical (49a), the<br />

ungrammaticality of (48a) cannot be attributed to some property of the tough A.

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