A Study on the Null Subject in English Imperatives

A Study on the Null Subject in English Imperatives

One of the properties that distinguish the imperative from other clause types in English is that it can have a null subject. That is, the subject position of an imperative need not be filled with overt material. In this paper, I examine the syntactic status of the null imperative subject and explore the grammatical and discourse-pragmatic conditions that govern the occurence of the null subject. I argue that the null imperative subject is an instance of pro, which can occur as long as the licensing and recovery conditions on pro are satisfied and the Pecking Order of Deletion Principle is not violated. The arguments put forth in this paper show how discourse-pragmatic factors interface with syntax and semantics to provide a cogent explanation of a seeming idiosyncrasy of the imperative clause.