The Syntax of Early English - Cryptm.org

The history of the ‘easy-to-please’ construction 277The interpretation of (73) that is given in the translation seems the mostnatural one; the sentence then clearly illustrates preposition stranding with apassive infinitive (also note that the same verb–preposition combination becomen to is used in the undoubtedly passive example (59), found in the sametext). An alternative reading would make the construction in (73) an exampleof the zero-type, and the auxiliary be a marker of the perfect rather than thepassive; this would result in the meaning ‘The most sovereign stage of contemplativelife which it is possible to have reached by grace’. This readingwould entail that be combines with a perfect infinitive, which according toDenison (1993: 361–3) is probably a development postdating the earlyfifteenth century. The resultant reading is also less than natural since thecontext of (73) is about a present or potential rather than a past accomplishment.Altogether, it therefore seems better to interpret (73) as a bona fideexample of preposition stranding with a passive infinitive.To sum up, we can say that the derivation of (late) Middle English ‘easy-toplease’sentences could involve either NP-movement (most clearly in theinstances with a passive infinitive) or wh-movement (clearly in the instanceswith a stranded preposition following verbobject). If we accept that the OldEnglish ‘easy-to-please’ construction always involved NP-movement, asargued in 8.3, the question arises of what caused the introduction of thederivation with wh-movement in Middle English. In concrete terms: whatcaused the appearance of sentences like (58)? Furthermore, we would also liketo know what factors were responsible for the innovative use of the passiveinfinitive, as in sentences (72)–(74), in this construction.8.5 Explaining the changes in Middle EnglishA possible answer to the first question posed at the end of 8.4 mightrun as follows: the wh-derivation of ‘easy-to-please’ was a result of the introductionof preposition stranding in this construction on the analogy of prettyadjectives,which allowed preposition stranding even in Old English (witnessexamples such as (42)). This could be formulated as an instance of (syntactic)proportional analogy, in the manner of (75).(75) NP iis pretty to V t i NP is easy to V t i iNP iis pretty to V P t iX⇒ XNP iis easy to V P t iIn terms of a child acquiring these constructions, this would mean that, havingacquired simple cases like This is very pretty to see and This is easy to do, shewas exposed to sentences like This is pretty to look at and would conclude from