The Syntax of Early English - Cryptm.org

8The history of the ‘easy-to-please’construction8.1 IntroductionIn this chapter we consider in detail the history of a specific construction,the so-called ‘easy-to-please’ construction or ‘tough’ movement. Somemodern examples are (1)–(3).(1) John was easy to convince.(2) The problem was tough to deal with.(3) He is hard to get a straight answer from.In each of (1)–(3), there is a sequence of an adjective plus an infinitival clausewhich is predicated on a noun phrase. The infinitival clause contains a nonsubjectgap (in (1), the gap functions as direct object, in (2) and (3) as complementof a preposition), and the noun phrase in the superordinate clauseprovides the interpretation for this gap. Thus in (1), the speaker is talkingabout convincing John, not someone else, and (2) and (3) are about dealingwith the problem and getting a straight answer from him, respectively.Although (1)–(3) all have the relevant NP functioning as subject of the verbbe, this is not a necessary characteristic of the construction. Instead of be,theverb may also be another copula, like seem, appear, turn out or become, andthere are also examples like (4).(4) I consider Mary impossible to get along with.In this sentence, although there is no copula between the noun phrase Maryand the sequence adjective–to-infinitive, it is nevertheless common practice tosay that there is a subject–predicate relation holding between Mary and impossibleto get along with (in terms of the analysis of Stowell 1981, 1983 and agreat deal of subsequent work, the two elements would form a small clause).If we adopt this view, we can say that the ‘easy-to-please’ construction, asmanifested in all of (1)–(4), has as its essential characteristic that it consists of256