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Non-Finite clauses

Non-finite clauses contain a non-conjugated (untensed) verb:

an infinitive

an -ing participle

an -ed participle

a gerund

The Infinitive

Subject To see her is to love her

Complement to an adjective It was unwise to take her offer.

Adverbial Adjunct of Purpose He came to see me.

Adverbial Adjunct of Result (Often He returned home to find his wife gone.
showing an unwelcome or unexpected
result or state of affairs):

Adverbial Adjunct of Reason I rejoice to hear of your success.

Predicative Complement The worst is still to come.

Post-Modifier to a noun He wore a pale blue shirt and a tie to

match.
I have letters to write.

Subjects of Infinitives:
* PRO
* Explicit
(introduced
by
the
overt
complementizer
for
or
by
a
non‐overt
complementizer)
1. It is easy for me to do that. (for: overt complementizer)
2. I want [ø you to go].

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-ing clauses

Participial Clauses Gerundial Clauses

Function: Adverb (in subordination to Function: Nominal.

a verb) The process of nominalization has been
such with some gerunds that they can be
used as heads of noun phrases.

Time Subject
Driving along the main road, I Sleeping is necessary to life.
remembered I had to post the letter. Working in these conditions is a pleasure.

Manner DO
She spent the whole evening reading He promised to stop smoking.
poems. Your shoes need polishing.

Reason Object to a preposition

Being poor, he could not afford to go to How about having a break?
university. Iʼm looking forward to seeing him.
Worn out by long watching, the soldier fell
asleep.

Condition PC
Turning to the left, you will find the place The problem was climbing up the high
you want. heel.
What she said was cheating.

Function: Adjective Modifier to a noun

The primary stress falls on the gerund
Modifier to a noun and it may be transformed into a
A charming person prepositional phrase with “for” or any
Boring speech other preposition):
Disappointing news
Walking –stick (a stick for walking)
PC Dining room ( a room for dining)
The story was exciting.

In coordination with the main clause

(expressing temporal simultaneity)
She left school worried about the alarm.
Forgotten by his contemporaries, he died
the same year of his discovery.

Subjects of Participial clauses: Subjects of Gerundial clauses:

* PRO * PRO
* Overt (Absolute Construction) * Overt

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The Absolute Construction

The Absolute Construction is a past, present participial or verbless clause with

an overt/ explicit subject. They can sometimes be introduced by the
complementizer with.
There is no PRO whatsoever because the subject is overt. The two subjects have different reference,
but the two of them are visible.
Nonfinite and verbless clauses that have an overt subject but are not introduced by a subordinator are
absolute clauses, so termed because they are not explicitly bound to the matrix clause syntactically.
In conversation the participle clause is usually turned into an adverbial clause:
Christmas day being a holiday, the shops were all closed.
As Christmas day was a holiday, the shops were all closed.

Overt Subjects Verbless Complementizer with

Christmas day being a holiday, the
shops were all closed.
We explored the caves, Peter acting
as a guide.
Weather permitting, the cricket
match will be played on
Wednesday.
All things considered, I think we out
to award the job to Tom.
Easter only a few days away, the
family was full of excitement.
With the children at home, we
decided to watch a film all together.
With the economy falling into
pieces...
With her hands in her pocket, she
came into the room.
With the place in order, she decided
to sit down and study.

The Attachment Rule

When a subject is not present in a non-finite or verbless clause, the normal attachment rule for
identifying the subject is that it is assumed to be identical in reference to the subject of the
superordinate or matrix clause:
Persuaded by optimism, he gladly contributed time and money to the scheme. [Since he was persuaded…]
Driving home after work, I accidentally went through a red light. [While I was driving home from work]
Confident of the justice of their cause, they agreed to put their case before an arbitration panel. [Since they were
confident…]

The Loose, Dangling, Unattached, Detached, Unrelated or Mis-related Participle

Sometimes the attachment rule is violated. The violation is considered to be an error, giving rise to the
Loose Participle (construction with PRO): The subject of the participle is not co-indexed with the
subject of the sentence. In other words, the subject of the participial clause is not the same as the
subject of the main or matrix clause; they refer to different entities.
Standing on the church tower, the whole village could be seen.
Being a nice day, we decided to go to the club.

The Attachment Rule does not apply in:

* The clause is a style disjunct and the I of the speaker is the implied subject:
Putting it mildly, you have caused us some inconvenience.
* If the implied subject is an indefinite pronoun, the construction is considered less objectionable:
When dining in the restaurant, a jacket and tie are required. [When one dines…]

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Accepted Participles

The use of certain loose participles has become widespread and they are now acceptable and considered as
prepositions:

Considering Counting

Regarding Including

Talking of Concerning

Speaking of Supposing

Generally Speaking Judging

Present Participle and the Infinitive

There are some verbs that may be followed by an object and by either a present
participle or an infinitive. The meaning is different:

The present participle describes the The infinitive is used for a complete
action in progress (like a continuous activity.
tense)

I saw him crossing the road (on the way I saw him cross the road (from one side
to the other side) to the other)

I heard him singing in his bath (noticed I heard him sing at the concert (I heard
this act in progress) the whole performance)

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Big PRO

The silent/ invisible/ empty/ covert/ not pronounced/ not manifested subject of non-
finite verbs

The subject of an The subject of a The subject of a The subject of a

infinitive present or past gerundial clause small or verbless
participle clause functioning
as the Predicative
Adjunct

Ii want to PROi go to PROi driving along Ii like PROi reading Hei died PROi poor.
the cinema. the main road, Ii novels.
remembered I had to
phone my sister.

CONTROL THEORY:
It deals with the co-indexation between PRO and its antecedent (the relationship
holding between PRO and its antecedent).

Subject Controlled Object Controlled Arbitrary Controlled

PRO is controlled (i.e.
refers back to) by the
grammatical subject of the
sentence. Controlled
means that PRO gets its
person, number and
gender features from the
subject.
Ii want to PROi go to the
cinema.
Ii tried to PROi open the
door.
Want is a control verb.
If PRO gets it features
from the object, it is said to
be object-controlled.
I told heri to PROi leave
the room.
I persuaded heri to PROi
buy a new P.C.
Tell and persuade are also
control verbs.
When PRO refers to some
entity within the domain of
discourse but not directly
mentioned in the sentence,
we say that PRO has a
discourse controller. In the
ff. examples, PRO has an
arbitrary reference, and so
denotes “any arbitrary
person you care to
mention” and hence, has
the same interpretation as
“one”. PRO has arbitrary
control here.
To PRO smoke is bad for
your health. [For everyone
to smoke…]

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Control, ECM and Raising Verbs select an infinitival clause as complement.

I tried [to be polite]
Tom expected [me to help him]
Tom seems [to enjoy his lessons]

Control Verbs

Verbs which allow an infinitival complement with a PRO subject.

Control is the relationship that holds between PRO and its antecedent. The infinitival
complement of a control verb always has a PRO subject, which is co-referential with the
subject or with the IO.
A control predicate (verb or adjective) assigns a theta role to its subject and to its
complement.
The infinitival complement of a control predicate always has a PRO subject, which is
controlled by (ie. co-referential with) the subject or with the IO.
Control Theory should determine the antecedent of PRO, the subject of the infinitive
(and perhaps the gerund).
There are two kinds of verbs: two-place and three- place verbs.

Two-place verbs Three-place verbs

Argument Structure: <1,2> Argument Structure: <1,2,3>

Syntactic Analysis:
# of complements: one
Subcategorization frame: V [ __ CP]
(CP: a non-finite, subordinate, noun
clause with a PRO subject. NEVER AN
EXPLICIT SUBJECT)
Syntactic Analysis:
# of complements: two
Subcategorization frame: V [ __ DP, CP]
(CP: a non-finite, subordinate, noun
clause with a PRO subject.)
These verbs need an animate
complement to which it assigns the
theta role of goal or affected.

try, hope, want, like, prefer, decide, persuade, ask, tell, oblige, order,
plan, promise, manage PRO to do urge, promise somebody to do
something. something
Verbs of communication.

Peteri tried [CP Ø PROi to open the The teacher persuaded [usi] [PROi to
door]. study Chomskyan syntax].
(Subject controlled) (Object controlled)

I tried [PRO to be polite] persuade (agent, goal, theme) (three

arguments)
try (agent, theme) (2 arguments)

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Control Adjectives

willing, reluctant, keen, capable PRO to do something.

Tom was not willing PRO to move into the house on the
shore.

Abstract Notion of Case

All overt (explicit) DP must have case.

Abstract case is a universal property of the DP.
Case: a property that has to do with the way the phrase is pronounced according to its
distribution in the sentence. It is evident if we replace the DP by pronouns.
DP have case even though in English is not morphologically marked.
The transitivity of a verb assigns accusative case to the object.
Prepositions (also transitive) are case assigners.
Inflection assigns nominative case to the subject of the finite CP. The Tensed element
values/marks the subject as nominative.
The Determiner marks the genitive. [The womanʼs dog.] [His wife killed him.]
The subjects of non-finite clauses are accusative. The transitivity assigns case to the
subject of a non-finite clause which functions as DO. (Non-finite forms cannot assign
case).
For you to study is important. The complementizer FOR assigns case
(complementizers: half way conjunction-preposition)
DP complement (DO) moves to a Subject position leaving behind a silent copy of itself:
trace (argument movement)
The passive participle form of the verb loses the ability to value the complement as
having accusative case and the DP receives nominative case from the tense element.
Then, it moves to subject position.

DP valued as nominative by the Tense element

DP valued as accusative by a Transitive verb or Preposition

DP valued as genitive by the Determiner Head of the DP where possessive

or genitive occurs.

EMC Verbs (Exceptional Case Marking)

They are MONO-TRANSITIVE verbs. (two-place verbs)

# of complements: one
The subject of the complement clause is in the ACCUSATIVE CASE.
The case is assigned by the EMC verb.

Complement clause:

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* SMALL CLAUSE
I consider [Mary wise]

* NON-FINITE CLAUSE
I want [Mary to do it]
Tom expected [me to help him]
The man made [us lie on the floor]

Verbs of mental state Verbs of perception Causative

want, prefer, like, see, hear, feel + make, let, allow +

imagine, hate, suspect, somebody or something someone to do sth.
judge, know + somebody do /doing something
to do something

Passive of an ECM verb

Notice that these verbs often occur in the passive construction. The subject moves out
into the Spec position of TP and leaves behind a trace or a copy of itself. The passive of
an ECM verb (like the passive of other verbs) does not assign accusative case. That is
why the embedded subject has to move.
Sue is believed [__ to have made up her mind.]
Nobody was considered [IP__ to be in the building.]
c. The new building is said [IP__ to impress the critics.]
Tom is expected t to arrive at noon.
The government is known t to be corrupt.
Susan was made t to laugh.
They were seen t to take the money / They were seen t taking the money

Note that some verbs can behave both as Control and ECM verbs:
I want [PRO to go home]
I want [them to go home]

Raising Verbs and Adjectives

These are one-place intransitive verbs.

# of complements: one
They have originally NO subject.

___ seems [Tom to enjoy his lessons]

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The NP Tom cannot remain in that position because it doesnʼt receive case there. On
the other hand, all finite clauses must have an overt subject in English, so the NP Tom
rises to subject of seems, where it is assigned nominative case.
Tom seems [t to enjoy his lessons]
These verbs are called raising because the embedded subject always moves out of the
complement clause and raises to subject of the conjugated/finite verb.
The subject of the clause that contains the raising predicate does not receive theta role
from the raising predicate. It is not an argument of the raising predicate at all, but merely
a syntactically moved argument of a lower predicate.

aspectual verbs adjectives be

seem, happen, turn out,
tend, appear +
infinitival clause
begin, start, continue,
stop , tend, going to
Tom is going [t to visit
us tomorrow]
likely, bound (one-place Mary is [t a pianist]
adjectives), sure, ___ is [Mary a pianist]
certain (two-place
adjectives)
Mary is likely [t to win
the contest]
They are sure [t to
arrive on time]

One-place adjectives: We can have two possible sentences: one without argument movement (without raising) and
one with argument movement (with raising):
[It is likely that John will come].
[John is likely to come].
Two-place adjectives: which can occur with an omitted experiencer argument. With these adjectives we can have
three possible sentences:
[We are certain that John will come].
[It is certain that John will come].
[John is certain to come].

[We are sure that John will come].

[It is sure that John will come].
[John is sure to come].

Likely without Argument Movement (or Raising)

[It is likely that John will come].

Semantic Analysis of the predicator of the main clause:

Main Predicator: likely (one-place adjective)
Argument: that John will come (clausal argument)
Argument structure of likely: <1>
Theta-grid: <theme/proposition>
Type of proposition: stative (likely is a modality adjective expressing cognition, the source of modality is the speaker
but one gets the impression that this modality is shared by other people as well)

Syntactic representation of the main clause:

The main clause is a CP (complementizer phrase) introduced by a null complementizer, which is the head of the
phrase. The null complementizer marks the clause as declarative and it tells us that the clause will be finite.

Ø It is likely that John will come.

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H (Comp) C/ Comp (TP)

G. Subject Predicate
It is likely that John will come.

It is an expletive pronoun, a slot filler, because since English is a [–null subject] language, the subject slot has to be
filled in. It is not an argument, it has no theta-role (therefore, it has no meaning). It is not referential. It is not an empty
category because it has phonological content.

Syntactic analysis of the Predicate:

[Pre] is likely that John will come.

Tense IVIP C/V (AP)

Syntactic analysis of the Adjectival Phrase likely that John will come:

likely that John will come (here).

H (A) C/ A (CP) (Sub/F/ that NC)

Subordinate clause: that John will come

Semantic Analysis of the predicator of the subordinate clause:

Predicator: come (two-place verb)
Arguments: John, (here)
Argument Structure: <1, (2) >
Theta-grid: <theme, locative >
Type of proposition: dynamic. Come is an unaccusative verb, a verb of directed motion.

Syntactic representation of the subordinate clause as a CP

The subordinate clause is a CP. The complementizer slot is filled in by an overt (i.e. explicit) complementizer.

that John will come (here).

H (Comp) C/ Comp (TP)

Syntactic Analysis of the TP:

Subject (DP) Predicate

Ø John will come (here).

Syntactic Analysis of the Determiner Phrase functioning as Subject:

Ø John
H (Det) C/Det (Proper Noun)

Syntactic analysis of the Predicate:

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will come (here)

H (Tense) IVIP C/V/ ADV C (Adv)

The sentence is a complex sentence, made up of a main clause and a finite subordinate clause.

Likely with Argument Movement (or Raising)

[John is likely to come].

Semantic Analysis of the predicator of the main clause:

Main Predicator: likely (one-place adjective)
Argument: John to come (clausal argument)
Argument structure of likely: <1>
Theta-grid: <theme/proposition>
Type of proposition: stative (likely is a modality adjective expressing cognition, the source of modality is the speaker
but one gets the impression that this modality is shared by other people as well)

Syntactic representation of the main clause:

The main clause is a CP (complementizer phrase) introduced by a null complementizer, which is the head of the
phrase. The null complementizer marks the clause as declarative and it tells us that the clause will be finite.

Ø John is likely to come.

H (Comp) C/ Comp (TP)

Syntactic representation of the movement operations within TP:

G. S Tense Verb C/V/Pred C (AP)

John [Pres] is likely [TP John to come]
A-movement

Syntactic Analysis of the Adjectival Phrase:

likely [TPJohn to come.]

H (A) C/A (Sub/Non F/ Noun C)

Notice that the complement to the adjective likely is a TP and not a CP. Its subject John will move out of it to end up
as the grammatical subject of the main clause. John, however, is not an argument of likely, it is an argument of the
verb of the subordinate clause and it gets its theta-role from that verb (in this case come)

Subordinate clause: John to come

Semantic Analysis of the predicator of the subordinate clause:

Predicator: come (two-place verb)
Arguments: John, (here)
Argument Structure: <1, (2) >
Theta-grid: <theme, locative>
Type of proposition: dynamic. Come is an unaccusative verb, a verb of directed motion.

Syntactic Analysis of the TP:

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Subject (DP) Predicate

Ø John to come (here).

Syntactic Analysis of the Determiner Phrase functioning as Subject:

Ø John
H (Det) C/Det (Proper Noun)

Syntactic analysis of the Predicate:

to come (here)
H (Tense) IVIP C/V/ ADV C (Adv)

The sentence is a complex sentence, made up of a main clause and a non-finite subordinate clause.

Test: Control or Raising Verb?

Raising Verbs Control Verbs

Existential ʻTHEREʼ Selection of arguments

There tends to be a problem.
There seems to be a problem.
There began to be a problem.
There happened to be a problem.
Raising verbs donʼt select an argument
as subject. They only select a
complement clause.
The water began to boil.
Control verbs select an argument
referring to an animate being as subject.
This is a pragmatic restriction.
John wants to go home (want:
experiencer/ theme)
*The water wants to boil.
Meteorological it incompatible with
Subject Control.
*It tried [PRO to rain]

Subject control can be mistaken for Raising.

Raising: Sue
seemed to be happy. Subject Control: Sue
tried to be happy.
John appeared to win a prize. John arranged to win a prize.

They are similar in a way. There is no overt subject in the infinitival clause. The subject of the matrix
clause is somehow related to the subject of the embedded clause. But semantically, they are different.

Matrix verbs: Matrix verbs:

* One-place predicates. * Two-place predicates.
* They do NOT assign theta-role to their subjects. * They DO assign theta-role to their subjects.

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Raising: Sue
seemed to be happy. Subject Control: Sue
tried to be happy.
John appeared to win a prize. John arranged to win a prize.

Paraphrasing:
Sue did things so that she would be happy.
[Sue is the argument of did things and she is the
argument of happy. There are two occurrences of an
NP referring to Sue, each with a theta-role]
John made arrangements so that he would win a
prize.

* We are dealing with two separate arguments

that happen to refer to the same individual. The
second argument is null (PRO)

Object control can be mistaken for ECM.

ECM:The salesman considered [the The salesman persuaded
Object Control:
customer to have bought the car]. the customer [PRO to buy the car].

* Two-place predicate. * Three-place predicate.

* It takes an external argument and one
internal argument.
* The internal argument can be a finite
CP:
The salesman considered/believed [that
the customer had bought the car].
* It takes an external argument and two
internal arguments.
* One of the internal arguments can be a
finite CP, but the first argument is still
present.
The salesman persuaded the customer
[that she should buy the car].

Raising is a situation in which the NP that gets its theta-role in one position must move
to get case -marked in another position. The position in which we hear a Raised NP is
due to syntax. Raising, in this sense, is ʻpure syntaxʼ.
Control is semantics. It is a situation in which a null pronoun PRO receive its
interpretation in one of a number of ways -from a subject, from an object, from the
object of a preposition or even from an unexpressed argument.

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EMPTY / NULL CATEGORIES

Little pro (Null Argument) In some languages, the subject of finite

clauses is often implicit or silent.
It has meaning.
It receives a theta-role.
It has number and person features.
It does not exist in English.
[pro Fui al cine ayer].
The subject of imperative sentences in
English is not little pro. It may be:
* a silent second person pronoun [Open
the door],
* an explicit second person pronoun [You
be quiet],
* a third person subject [Somebody open
this door].

Big PRO (Null Argument) The silent subject of non-finite verbs

Traces (Null Argument) All languages have displacement

properties: an element which is
interpreted in a certain position appears
placed in a different position.
* DP (argument movement)
* Wh- phrases (wh or operator
movement)
* Auxiliary verbs (head-to head
movement)

Null Operator (Null Argument) * yes-no questions,

* finite relative clauses [The man [null
whOp+null C+PRO to send t on this
mission] must be wise].
* reduced relative clauses.

Null Determiner

Null Complementizers (Null Functor) * that [He said [null C he was fine].
* with/ without [He dived [null C head
first].

Null Tense (Null Functor) Tom null T said that he was tired.

Null To in bare infinitives toʼ occupies the position of inflextion and

it has the feature [-tense]

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EMPTY / NULL CATEGORIES

Elided Arguments [He eats e at 9]. Elided theme (DO)

[He arrived e at 9]. Elided goal (Adv C)
[The man stood and e left]. Elided subject
in coordinate finite clauses.

Functional Categories Lexical Catergories

* determiners, pronouns, auxiliary verbs, * verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs,

S+(introducing finite clauses), for prepositions
(introducing non-finite clauses),
complementizers, negation, tense

* they lack descriptive content * descriptive or semantic content (picture

* express grammatical features in your mind representing the meaning)
* stressless, clitics, affixes, phonologically * have antonyms
null * open classes
* closed classes * complements: arguments
* complements: only one, not an * assign theta-roles
argument, always same category * semantic core of the sentence
* inseparable from their complement
(pronouns do not take complements)
* do not assign theta-roles

Complementizers: express the

illocutionary force of the sentence.
* Main clauses: introduced by a null
complementizer.
* Subordinate clauses introduced by an
overt/covert complementizer.

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Functional Categories Lexical Catergories

Tense VP: Head: Lexical verb + Complements

(DO, IO, Adv C, PC)

Determiners: express generic or specific NP: Head: N

reference.
* can be null

Adj P

Adv P

PP

The functional categories form extended projections of the lexical categories.

Every sentence is a CP. The Head C has a TP as a complement. The T head has a
VP as complement.
CP+TP+VP: hierarchical structure

Full Phrase

Specifier H Complement

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