The Syntax of Root Clauses (8)

Expletive Subjects
The Direct Object

Introduction
Sentences can have dummy (expletive) subjects.
English has two expletives that function as subjects,
there and it.
Questions
(i)
what is the status of there, i.e. is it an argument or
an adjunct,
(ii) what is the role of there in the sentence?

Introduction
(1) a. Three men arrived at the station.
b. There arrived three men at the station.
(2) a. A few roses occurred on that highway.
b. There occurred a few accidents on that highway.
(3) a. A fierce fight started in that room.
b. There started a fierce fight in that room.

Introduction
Sentences (1a), (2a) and (3a) above have one argument,
the subject; sentences (1b), (2b) and (3b) have two
arguments, there and the nouns that associate with it,
i.e. three men, a few accidents and a fierce fight,
respectively.
Terminology
there = expletive subject (semantically empty subject)
Three men, a few accidents, a fierce fight = the
associates of the expletive subject

Introduction
There counts as an argument of the verb for three
reasons.
First, it occupies the pre-verbal position that is reserved
for subjects, in English.
Second, there cannot be an adjunct because it cannot be
wh-questioned as an adverbial of place:
(4) a. Where did the fierce fight start?
b. *There.

Introduction
Third, the argument status of there shows in the fact that
it is not an optional constituent, it cannot be omitted
without causing ungrammaticality.
(5)

a. *Arrived three men at the station.

b. *Occurred a few accidents on the highway.
c. *Started a fierce fight in the garen

Introduction
There does not bring any semantic contribution to the
sentence, i.e. it is semantically empty. This implies that
it cannot carry any semantic role as subject usually do.
There occupies the pre-verbal subject position in order
to have nominative case assigned to that position; its
associate, on the other hand, bears the semantic role that
the verb has to give.
Think of there as the grammatical subject and of its
associate as the notional subject.

The distribution of there sentences

Existential there sentences have unaccusative verbs as
predicates.
(i) verbs that denote existence: be, happen, exist, live,
occur;
(ii) verbs of seeming: seem, appear, arise, emerge,
ensue, rise, surge;
(iii) aspectual verbs: begin, start, stop, cease, end,
remain;
(iv) verbs that denote location in space stand, lie, sit.

The distribution of there sentences

There is a type of unaccusative verb that is not compatible
with there sentences.
Unaccusative verbs that denote change of state are not
grammatical in there sentences.
(6) a. *There was drying a pair of jeans on the
clothes-line.
b. *There reddened a guys face.
c. *There melted all the snow in the streets.

The Definiteness Effect

Consider the following sentences:
(7) a. *There came the policeman to the mysterious
house.
b. *There exist the serious problem about our
tenants.
c. *There is my friend/John/him in the room.
d. *There is this obnoxious guy in my class.
e. *There is each kind of politician represented in
the Parliament.
f. *There is every student I know in the
classroom.

The Definiteness Effect

The ungrammaticality of all these sentences is due to
the nature of the associate of the expletive which has the
semanticfeature [+ definite].
Types of definite NPs:
NPs with the definite article or a possessive adjective (a,
b, c),
Proper names, pronouns (c),
NPs headed by demonstrative pronouns (d),
NPs headed by universal quantifiers (e, f).

The Definiteness Effect

Compare the ungrammaticality of (7) with the wellformedness of (8).
(8) a. There are many/some/several pigs in the backyard.
b. There arrived three politicians in the hall.
c. There are good films on TV this month.
d. There are no clever people in the Parliament.
e. There is nothing but misery in this house.

The Definiteness Effect

All the associates of there in the examples above have
the semantic feature [-definite].
Types of indefinite NPs:
Existential quantifiers (a),
Cardinal determiners (b),
Bare plurals (c),
Negative indefinites (d),
Negative exceptives (e).

The Definiteness Effect

From the data presented in (7) and (8), we can formulate
a constraint on there sentences.
The Definiteness Effect
(9) Definite post-verbal NPs are not grammatical in
there-sentences.

The Definiteness Effect

The definiteness effect falls in line with the meaning
that there sentences convey. More precisely, these
sentences denote the existence of an entity at a certain
location.
Definite DPs denote entities that are already known
from the previous discourse.
Indefinite DPs, on the other hand, introduce new entities
in discourse (they meet the so-called Novelty Condition,
cf. Heim) and, because of this, they are compatible with
the meaning of there sentences.

The Definiteness Effect

There are sentences that challenge the Definiteness Effect.
(10) a. A: Who do we have to play Othello?
B: Well, there is John, his uncle and the man
with the limp.
b. There is the oddest looking man standing at the
front door.
c. There is the possibility of his having been killed in
an accident.
d. There is the only picture of Guitar Slim. (Avram
2003)

The Definiteness Effect

Let us look more closely at the exceptions to the DE.
(10a) shows that, if the associate of the expletive
denotes a list or an enumeration, the sentence is
grammatical.
Similarly, if the associate makes reference to definite
NPs that combine with clausal modifiers (i.e. relative
clause, see b and c), the sentences are grammatical.
Associates that are lexically realized by superlatives are
also fine (see b).

The Definiteness Effect

Q: What do all the associates of the expletive in (10)
have in common?
A: All of them denote hearer new entities (see Avram
2003).
Remember that indefinites introduce new entities in
discourse.
Associates of expletives that denote hearer new entities
end up playing the same part as real indefinites.

The Definiteness Effect

There are other cases in which an expletive associate that is
headed by the definite article denotes in fact an indefinite
entity. Consider (11), from Avram 2003.
(11) a. There was the air of a shy, clumsy man about
him.
b. There was the smell of whiskey in the air.
c. There was the book by a Booker Prize winner in
his library.

The Definiteness Effect

Even if the expletive associates in the sentences above

are headed by the, the prepositional objects they select
are all indefinites, i.e. a shy man, whiskey, a Booker
Prize winner. In fact, all these constituents denote
indefinite entities (see also Avram)

Expletive it
The second expletive element that can function as
subject is it. Consider the sentences below.
(12) a. It is clear that he doesnt know.
b. It appears that they have met before.
c. It took him three hours to get there.
(13) a. It is raining.
b. It is Monday.
c. It is three miles to the village

Expletive it
The sentences in (12) illustrate the so-called
introductory-anticipatory it. The name comes from the
fact that it anticipates the subject clause that occurs
post-verbally (that he doesnt know, that they met
before, to get there).
Introductory-anticipatory it has no descriptive content.
Introductory-anticipatory it shows up in pre-verbal
subject position for case reasons and does not take on a
semantic role either.

Expletive it

The sentences in (13) illustrate impersonal it.

Impersonal it is used either in the so-called weather
sentences or in sentences that refer to time and distance
(see b and c). It does not have descriptive content of its
own either.

There vs. It
There sentences are used when one wants to assert the
existence of an entity at a certain location.
Expletive it, on the other hand, is preferred for a
contrastive reading. Consider the sentences below.
(14) a. There is a cake left on the tray.
b. It is a cake left on the tray.

There vs. It
(12a) is a statement about the existence of a piece of
cake on the tray; (12b) is a statement about the nature of
the object that is on the tray, i.e. a cake not a tangerine.
Similar examples are given in what follows.
(15) a. There is the truth that matters.
b. It is truth that matters (not justice or love or
any other abstraction).
(16) a. There was a lady asking for help.
b. It was a lady asking for help (not a man, nor a
child).

There vs. It
(17) a. There was an hour before dawn (i.e. we had
one more hour).
b. It was an hour before dawn (i.e. the time was 4
oclock).
(18) a. It is no problem to finish in time (i.e. to finish
in time is not a problem).
b. There was no problem to finish in time (i.e. no
problem exists that could prevent us from
finishing in time).

The Direct Object

The usual situation requires that the direct object of the
transitive verb be present, otherwise the sentence is not
grammatical.
(1)

a. Bill kissed Monica

b.*Bill kissed.

However, there are cases when the object can be

dropped.

The Direct Object

Two types of null direct object have been identified
(Cummins & Roberge 2004):
A.
Indefinite (or generic) null objects
(2) Do you write _?
(ex. from Garcia-Velasco & Portero 2002)
B.
Definite null objects (recipe contexts)
(3) Remove _ from oven and cool _ .
(Massam 1989: 135)
Cummins & Roberge discuss the following properties of
indefinite / generic null objects.

The Direct Object

The indefinite / generic object does not have a
contextually available referent.
Sentences with indefinite null objects have an activity
interpretation, rather than an accomplishment
interpretation.

There is a set of contexts that license the occurrence of

an indefinite object. We will review them below.

Direct Object Drop

Syntactic contexts that allow direct object drop
Direct objects can be dropped in a sequence of verbs
(cf. 4), when they are selected by imperative verbs (cf.
5) or by verbs in the infinitive (cf. 6), a tenseless mood.
(4) He will steal _, rob _ and murder _ .
(5) Push _ hard! .
(6) This is a lovely guitar, with an uncanny ability to
impress _ and delight _ .

Direct Object Drop

The tense in the sentence has to do with null object
licensing:
There is a preference for object drop in case the verb
in the sentence is used in the generic present tense (cf.
7).

(7) There are those who annihilate _ with violence,

who devour _ .

Direct Object Drop

The occurrence of indefinite null objects is sensitive to
semantic factors as well.
Direct objects can be dropped if they are used in a
contrastive context (cf. 8)
(8)

Is it better to reuse _ than to recycle _?

Direct Object Drop

Massam 1989, 1992 identifies a set of properties of
referential null objects in recipe contexts.
The NO gets a specific interpretation, not an arbitrary
one.
The NO occur with both affecting / non/affecting verbs:
(9) Take three eggs. Break _ into a bowl.
(10) Watch _ carefully.
(Massam 1989: 135)

Direct Object Drop

Appear unmodified, but cannot occur in small clauses:
(11) *Boil noodles. Consider / Judge / Assume _ when
soft.
Occur in sentences without an overt subject
(imperatives, in English)
(12) First you take three eggs and three teaspoons sugar.
*You must beat _ well and cook _ for 5 minutes.
Beat _ well and cook _ for 5 minutes.

Direct Object Drop

May not occur after subcategorized / nonsubcategorized prepositions:
(13) a. Take foil. Cover cookies with *(it) immediately.
b. Mix the lemon juice and chopped parsley. Then
sprinkle scallops with *(the mixture).
Do not appear in double object constructions:
(14) Take cookies from oven. Give your guests *(these
cookies) immediately.

Direct Object Drop

Q: Do transitive verbs whose direct object have been
omitted turn into intransitive verbs?
A: No. Even if the direct object is not present any more,
we can find arguments that it is syntactically active, so
we cannot say that the respective verb has only one
argument.

Direct Object Drop

Null indefinite objects license Resultative Phrases
(15) Beat _ until thick and lemon-colored.
Null indefinite objects can be coreferent with pronouns
(a pronoun always needs an antecedent so it can get an
interpretation):
(16) His attitude intimidates _ until you figure out hes
a phony.

The Direct Object

Null objects can license parasitic gaps (i.e. a gap that
shows up in a subordinate adjunct clause)
(17) Which document did the spy memorize _ before
eating _?
The gap left by the movement of the object of the verb
memorize in (17) makes it possible for a parasitic gap to
occur.

The Direct Object

Cummins & Roberge note that, cross-linguistically, there
are ways for null objects to retrieve their meaning.
English null objects retrieve their reference sentence
internally. Various details come into play:
(i) the reference of the null object is retrieved from the
lexical properties of the verbs that select them.
(18) Where Boulestin never falters or misleads _ is the
sureness of his taste and the sobriety of his
ingredients.

The Direct Object

Psych-verbs like that in (18) take an arbitrary third
person affected human null object.
For the sake of comparison, here are some Romanian
examples in which the null object is identified by means
of the lexical characteristics of the verb.
(19) Ce ai cautat acolo? Am explorat _ si eu.
(20) In graba mea sa despachetez _, am distrus cutia.

The Direct Object

In (19) the meaning of the null object is predictable, but
not in a very precise way, i.e. am explorat zona.
In (20) the null object refers to a more narrowly
determined entity, i.e. sa despachetez coletul / pachetul.
(ii) As already mentioned, the generic present and
tenseless verbs also license null object (see example (7)
above).

The Direct Object

Cummins & Roberge also note that null object that are
licensed sentence-internally do not have contextually
available referents.
(21) What happened to that carrot?
*I chopped _ .
(22) The door is open. *Didnt you lock _?
In (21) and (22), the null object is forced to pick up a
referential interpretation (i.e. I chopped that carrot), so
it becomes ungrammatical.

The Direct Object

The way to repair sentences like (21) and (22) is to
build up a context in which no referential interpretation
is forced, such as (23):
(23) What happed to all the vegetables?
Well, Jacques has been chopping _ and dicing _
all afternoon.
We dont know exactly what kind of vegetables Jacques
chopped.

The Direct Object

Keep in mind, however, that it is pragmatically possible
that a null object ends up being connected to a specific
antecedent (Perez-Leroux, Prvulescu, Roberge 2008,
Tedeschi 2009).
(24) What are you going to do while you wait?
Ill buy a newspaper and Ill read _ .