Drawing Inferences about Novel Raisingand Control Verbs

The overlapping distribution belies crucial differences in the verbs thematic properties. The structural difference between (1a) and (1b) is that in the first case, the raising verb seem assigns no external -role, and the subject of the infinitive clause (John) raises up to matrix subject position. In the second case, the control verb claim assigns its external -role to the subject, John, which is basegenerated in the main clause and controls the reference of PRO in the infinitive. The question for language learners is how these two structures are determined, since, presumably, at some point a learner will encounter these abstract verbs for the first time. One way to illustrate the problem is to consider how you would interpret a sentence like John gorps to be clever. Certainly, it is the case that raising and control verbs are distinguished in other types of sentence frames. Raising, but not control, verbs can occur in a there-construction or with weather-it subjects, and control, but not raising, verbs can occur in pseudoclefts. Some control verbs (though not all) can occur in transitive constructions.