In an effort to pave the way to understanding the syntax of the Participial Perception Verb Complements (PPVCs) in English, this paper examines various syntactic phenomena of PPVCs in light of generative grammar. By making three proposals on syntactic grounds, the paper resolves problems and answers questions surrounding the constituency, category and internal structure of PPVCs and case checking of the overt subject DP in the position right behind the perception verb. The advanced proposals are as follows: (a) PPVCs are single constituents with both nominal and clausal properties; (b) PPVCs are categorically TPs dominated by DPs in Davies and Dubinsky s (1999) sense; (c) along the minimalist lines suggested in Chomsky (2000, 2001), the overt subject DP of PPVCs has its [-interpretable] case feature checked against the matrix perception verb as in the typical ECM construction.
1. Introduction
2. The Constituency of PPVCs
3. The Category and Structure of PPVCs
4. Case Checking of the Subject DP in PPVCs9
(0)
(0)