Basic English Syntax with Exercises

chain

3.2.3 Traces

The notion of a chain might be useful here. We can see a moved element and its associated traces as a single object made up of several parts: like a single chain is made up from different links. Extending this analogy further, we can then refer to the different parts of a movement chain as the links of the chain. Thus, the movement in (99a) can be said to contain the chain represented in (99b):

3.2.3 Traces

This chain has two links: this sentence and the trace. We say that the moved element is at the head of the chain, while the trace is at its foot.