Out of control

On the currently dominant view of superficially subjectless infinitival complements they contain a PRO subject (and are thus syntactically sentential), and denote a proposition. Sadock (2008) argues against the PRO analysis, but maintains the propositional view. This paper follows Montague’s (1973) analysis, on which such complements are VPs and denote properties, citing arguments from Chierchia (1984a, b) and Dowty (1985). I give a new argument, based on the necessarily de se interpretation of these complements, and respond to the analysis of Roberts (2009).

Published online: 29 April 2011
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.176.14abb