Basic English Syntax with Exercises

Suggested answer for Exercise 4

WH-movement

The verb live when used in the sense of 'reside' is an unaccusative verb so in this case it would not have an agentive vP above it which introduces the subject. The subject in this sentence has the theta role of theme, so it is base-generated in the specifier position of VP. The vP above VP hosts the tense morpheme -s that the lexical verb picks up on its way to C. As discussed in the text movement of the lexical verb to C is possible as long as it appears after the subject, and this is exactly the case in subject questions. So the verb moves from V to v first, then to I, then to C. The movement of the verb is somewhat simplified in the tree, the structure gets more and more complex with each step of movement.