Interrogatives et pseudo-clivées portant sur le prédicat

A parallel is drawn between two clause-types carrying an obligatory pro-form: wh-questions and the so-called free relative of pseudo-clefts. In the analysis both types are derived from a single counterpart which is structurally simpler. The constituent targeted in the former and focused in the latter always corresponds to the VP of their counterpart. The mandatory verb fare ‘do’ that occurs in the question and in the free relative is analyzed as a support verb. In both cases its origin is traceable to the syntactic function of the pro-form, which is claimed to be double, in that it simultaneously works as a predicate and an argument (direct object).