Basic English Grammar with Exercises - MEK

Suggested Answers and Hints - Chapter 6n) In the sentence John thinks that Jim knows that Mary gave his book to Jane thereis a verb think which takes a clause as its argument. In this clause there is a verb knowwhich again takes a clause as an argument. The verb think assigns two thematic roles: anexperiencer to the DP John, which occupies the specifier of the vP in the D-structure, and apropositional, which is assigned to the CP in the specifier position of the VP. The DP Johnhas to move to the specifier position of the IP in order to get Case from the finite I head.There is an abstract light verb in the v head which requires the main verb to adjoin to it.The CP is in a Case position but CPs do not need to be assigned Case, moreover, CPs avoidCase positions, so the CP moves rightwards and adjoins to the VP. Inside this clause the Vhead is occupied by the verb know, which takes two arguments: an experiencer in thespecifier of the vP, which moves to the specifier of the IP for Case, and a propositional,which is a CP and occupies the specifier position of the VP. The verb adjoins to the lightverb. The CP is again in a Case position, and moves to the right adjoining to the VP. Insidethe CP, the V is occupied by the verb give. Give takes three arguments: an agent in thespecifier of the vP, a theme in the specifier of the VP and a goal PP in the complementposition of the verb. The DP Mary moves to the specifier of the IP, while the DP his bookreceives Case in its base position from the v head. The DP Jane is assigned Case in its baseposition by the preposition to. Besides all this the thematic verbs undergo the usualmovements to the tense v and then to I, which appears in a simplified form in the tree toavoid a really disturbing abundance of traces (notice, however, that e.g. knows is made upof two morphemes, know and -s, so there should be two traces in tense v).(15) CPC'CIPDP 1I'John I vPthinks 2v'vvPt 2 t 1 v'vVPt 2 VP CP 3t 3V'Vt 2394