Suggested answer for Exercise 9

(1)	a	John was believed to have stolen the book from the library.
	b	Jane was assumed to be taken to the cinema by taxi.
	c	The students wanted to pass the exam.
	d	Which girl do you think John would like to dance with?

Believe is a two-place predicate selecting for an experiencer and a theme or propositional argument. Here the v head is occupied by the passive morpheme en, which does not require an experiencer argument. So there will be only one argument, which is a clausal argument occupying the specifier position of the VP. The head of the upper vP is the base position for the passive auxiliary be. This moves to the I head in the S-structure. The verb believe adjoins to the passive morpheme in v. In the embedded clause, the main verbs takes two arguments: a theme DP in the specifier of the VP and an agent DP in the specifier position of the light verb. The main verb steal adjoins to the light verb, and this complex head moves on the aspectual morpheme en, being also a bound morpheme. The perfect auxiliary have occupies the head of the upper vP projection. The PP from the library is an adjunct, since the verb steal requires only two arguments: an agent and a theme. The DP the book can be assigned Case by the light verb in v in its base position. The other argument, however, has to move in order to receive Case. The first position where it has a chance to receive Case is the first subject position in the specifier of the lower IP. If the verb in the upper clause is not passive, then the light verb can assign accusative Case to the DP in the specifier of the lower IP, as can be seen in (2).

(2)

Jane believed John to have stolen the book from the library.

In this sentence, however, the v head is occupied by the passive morpheme en, which cannot assign Case. So the DP has to move on to the next position where it can get Case. This position is the subject position in the specifier of the higher IP. Here the finite I head assigns nominative Case to the DP.

(3)

The structure of sentence (1b) is quite similar to that in (1a). The main verb assume, being a passive verb, takes only one argument, which is a clausal theme argument in the specifier of the VP. The verb take in the lower clause is a multiple complement verb, but since it is also passive, it takes only two arguments: a theme DP Jane, which occupies the specifier position of the VP in the D-structure, and a goal argument PP, which occupies the complement position of the verb. The main verb adjoins to the passive morpheme in both clauses. The PP by taxi is an adjunct, since it is not selected by the verb take as a complement. The theme DP Jane needs to be assigned Case. The specifier of the vP, its base position, is not a Case position, since the passive morpheme in v is not able to assign accusative Case. The DP moves to the specifier of the IP, which is the first position where the DP has chance for receiving Case. The head of the IP is non-finite, thus it cannot assign nominative Case to the DP in its specifier position. Since the head of the vP dominating the specifier of the IP is a passive morpheme, no accusative Case can be assigned to the DP either. The DP moves on to the next possible Case position, which is the specifier of the next IP. Since the I head is finite, it can assign nominative Case to the DP.

(4)

In (1c) want is a two-place predicate. It takes an agent and a propositional argument. The agent has its base position in the specifier of the vP and it moves to the specifier of the IP in order to get nominative Case from the finite I head. The proposition is a CP, which occupies the specifier of the VP. This is a Case position, the light verb in v can assign accusative Case to this position. Since sentences avoid Case positions, it moves rightwards and adjoins to the VP. The main verb pass selects for two arguments: an agent and a theme. The theme DP the exam receives Case from the light verb in its base position. The agent DP occupies the specifier of the vP in the D-structure. This DP is coreferential with the students but it cannot be the trace of that DP since they both receive a separate thematic role from one of the main verbs. Thus the agent DP in the lower clause is not the trace of the students but it is a PRO, taking an independent thematic role.

(5)

In sentence (1d) the main verb think takes two arguments: an experiencer, which occupies the specifier of the vP and a theme, which is a CP occupying the specifier of the VP. Since CPs avoid Case positions and the specifier of the VP is a Case position, the CP moves rightwards and adjoins to the VP. In the middle CP, the verb like selects for two arguments: an experiencer occupying the specifier of the vP and a theme occupying the specifier of the VP. The CP argument of the verb like moves rightwards in order to avoid the Case position. It adjoins to the VP. In the lowest clause, the verb dance takes only one argument: an agent in the specifier of the vP. The PP with which girl is an adjunct since it is not required by the verb dance. The agent argument is a PRO since it is unpronounced but has an independent thematic role. The DP which girl is a wh-expression which has to move to the specifier of a CP with a [+Wh] feature. So the DP moves first to the specifier of the lowest CP. Since the C head has a [–Wh] feature, it has to move on to the specifier of the next CP. This again has a [–Wh] feature, so the DP cannot stay there. It moves on to the specifier of the upper CP. The head of the upper CP has a [+Wh] feature, so the DP can stay in that position. The [+Wh feature] of the C head attracts the I head as well. Since the thematic verb cannot move above the subject, dummy do is inserted into C.

(6)