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5.2.2.1.Control infinitivals

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This section discusses control constructions with an argumental te-infinitival. The examples in (440) show that such infinitival clauses behave like finite argument clauses in that they are normally in extraposed position, that is, placed after the verbs in clause-final position. The te-infinitivals we discuss in this section do not participate in verb clustering, but since much more can and should be said about this, we will not address this issue here but postpone it to Section 5.2.2.3.

440

a.	dat	Jani	heeft	beweerd	[dat	hiji/j	dat boek	gekocht	heeft].
	that	Jan	has	claimed	that	he	that book	bought	has
	'that Jan has claimed that he has bought that book.'

b.	dat	Jani	heeft	beweerd	[(*om) PROi	dat boek	gekocht	te hebben].
	that	Jan	has	claimed	comp	that book	bought	to have
	'that Jan has claimed to have bought that book.'

The main issues in this section is whether control in examples such as (440b) is obligatory in the sense defined in (441); we refer the reader to Section 5.2.1.3, sub IIIA, for a brief discussion of this definition.

441

Obligatory control requires the antecedent of PRO to:

be overtly realized in the sentence containing PRO;

be local (a co-argument of the infinitival clause containing PRO);

be a c-commanding nominal argument (subject or object);

be unique (cannot be "split").

Section 5.2.1.3 has argued that cases such as (442a), in which the matrix verb takes an argument in the form of an om + te-infinitival, do not involve obligatory control in the sense of (441). This is clear from the fact that examples of this type allow passivization; the passive construction in (442b) does not have an overt controller for the PRO-subject, thus violating restriction (441a), and even if we were to express the controller by means of an agentive door-phrase, the resulting structure would violate the c-command restriction in (441c).

442

a.	Jani	probeerde	[(om) PROi	dat boek	te kopen].
	Jan	tried	comp	that book	to buy
	'Jan tried to buy that book.'

b.	Er	werd	geprobeerd	[(om) PROarb	dat boek	te kopen].
	there	was	tried	comp	that book	to buy
	'It was tried to buy that book.'

Control constructions in which the matrix verb takes an argument in the form of a te-infinitival, on the other hand, do seem to involve obligatory control given that such constructions do not allow passivization. The passive counterparts of the examples in (440) given in (443) show that the verb beweren readily allows passivization if it takes a finite argument clause, but not if it takes an infinitival argument clause. It is therefore plausible to attribute this difference in acceptability to the fact that the PRO-subject must be obligatorily controlled; see Van Haaften (1991:ch.4) for extensive discussion. Observe that the c-command restriction on obligatory control in (441c) correctly predicts that (443b) does not improve when we add an agentive door-phrase with a potential controller for PRO: *Er wordt door Jani beweerd [PROi dat boek te kopen].

443

a.	Er	wordt	beweerd	[dat	hij	dat boek	gekocht	heeft].
	it	is	claimed	that	he	that book	bought	has
	'It is claimed that he has bought that book.'

b.	*	Er	wordt	beweerd [PROarb	dat boek	gekocht	te hebben].
		there	is	claimed	that book	bought	to have

If control verbs with a te-infinitival argument clause indeed trigger obligatory control, we predict that they differ in a number of ways from control verbs with an om + te-infinitival argument clause. First, since restrictions (441a&b) require there to be a local controller of the PRO-subject, we predict that there are no constructions in which PRO receives an arbitrary interpretation, and, consequently, that subject control verbs categorically resist passivization and object control verbs never allow omission of their object. Second, restrictions (441a-c) require the controller to be a nominal argument of the control verb, that is, the controller cannot be part of some prepositional phrase; this entails that there are no object control verbs taking a prepositional indirect object. Third, restriction (441d) predicts that split antecedents are excluded.

I. Subject control
II. Object control
III. No PRO-subjects with split antecedents
- A. No split antecedents
- B. A potential counterexample
IV. How te- and om + te-infinitivals differ

[+] I. Subject control

Example (444) provides a sample of three subtypes of verbs with te-infinitival argument clauses that normally trigger subject control. The transitive and ditransitive verbs in (444a&b) are propositional verbs with a factive or a non-factive clausal complement; cf. Cremers (1983) and Van Haaften (1991:ch.4). The prepositional object verbs in (444c) also trigger subject control.

444

Transitive verbs: betreuren'to regret', beseffen'to realize', beweren'to claim', denken'to think', geloven'to believe', menen'to suppose', vrezen'to fear', zeggen'to say'Transitive verbs: betreuren'to regret', beseffen'to realize', beweren'to claim', denken'to think', geloven'to believe', menen'to suppose', vrezen'to fear', zeggen'to say'

Ditransitive verbs: antwoorden'to reply', berichten'to report', meedelen'to inform', schrijven'to write', verzekeren'to assure/promise', garanderen'to guarantee'Ditransitive verbs: antwoorden'to reply', berichten'to report', meedelen'to inform', schrijven'to write', verzekeren'to assure/promise', garanderen'to guarantee'

Intransitive and inherently reflexive PO-verbs: rekenen (op)'to count on', zich verbazen (over)'to be surprised about', zich verwonderen over'to be amazed at'Intransitive and inherently reflexive PO-verbs: rekenen (op)'to count on', zich verbazen (over)'to be surprised about', zich verwonderen over'to be amazed at'

We have already shown in (443b) by means of the transitive verb beweren'to claim' that passivization of subject control verbs is impossible due to the fact that it demotes the subject to adjunct status. This is illustrated again in (445); passivization of the transitive verb geloven'to believe' results in unacceptability, regardless of whether the demoted subject is or is not expressed by means of a door-phrase. This supports the claim that we are dealing with obligatory control.

445

a.	Jani	geloofde [PROi	dat boek	gekocht	te hebben].
	Jan	believed	that book	bought	to have
	'Jan believed to have bought that book.'

b.	*	Er	werd	door Jani	geloofd [PROi	dat boek	gekocht	te hebben].
		there	was	by Jan	believed	that book	bought	to have

b'.	*	Er	werd	geloofd [PROarb	dat boek	gekocht	te hebben].
		there	was	believed	that book	bought	to have

The examples in (446) show the same thing for the ditransitive verb garanderen'to guarantee'; passivization is blocked, regardless of whether the demoted subject is expressed by means of a door-phrase. Again, this supports the claim that we are dealing with obligatory control.

446

a.	Jani	garandeerde	me [PROi	me dat boek	toe	te sturen].
	Jan	guaranteed	me	me that book	prt.	to send
	'Jan guaranteed me that he would send that book to me.'

b.	*	Er	werd	me	door Jani	gegarandeerd [PROi	me dat boek	toe	te sturen].
		there	was	me	by Jan	guaranteed	me that book	prt.	to send

b'.	*	Er	werd	me	gegarandeerd [PROarb	me dat boek	toe	te sturen].
		there	was	me	guaranteed	me that book	prt.	to send

The ditransitive verb schrijven'to write' is special to some degree in that it not only allows subject but also object control. First consider the primeless examples in (447), which show that the actual interpretation of PRO depends on the pronoun hem/haar'him/her' in the infinitival clause. On the reading that the pronoun hem is coreferential with the object of the matrix clause, example (447a) cannot but be interpreted in such a way that PRO is controlled by the subject of the matrix clause: object control would violate the requirement that the pronoun be free (= not bound) within its own clause; see Section N5.2.1.5, sub III. Similarly, on the reading that the pronoun haar is coreferential with the subject of the matrix clause, example (447b) must be interpreted in such a way that PRO is controlled by the object of the matrix clause: subject control would again violate the requirement that the pronoun is to be free in its own clause. The crucial point is that the acceptability contrast between the two primed examples in (447) shows that subject control blocks passivization whereas object control allows it. These passivization facts again suggest that we are dealing with obligatory control: example (447a') is unacceptable on the reading that Jan will be sent the book due to passivization demoting the subject controller to adjunct status; example (447b') is acceptable due to the fact that passivization does not affect the status of the object controller.

447

a.	Mariei	schreef	Janj [PROi/*j	hemj	dat boek	toe	te sturen].
	Marie	wrote	Jan	him	that book	prt.	to send
	'Marie wrote to Jan that she (= Marie) would send him (= Jan) that book.'

a'.	*	Er	werd	Janj	geschreven [PROarb	hemj	dat boek	toe	te sturen].
		there	was	Jan	written	him	that book	prt.	to send

b.	Mariei	schreef	Janj [PROj/*i	haari	dat boek	toe	te sturen].
	Marie	wrote	Jan	her	that book	prt.	to send
	'Marie wrote to Jan that he (= Jan) was to send her (= Marie) that book.'

b'.		Er	werd	Janj	geschreven [PROj	haari	dat boek	toe	te sturen].
		there	was	Jan	written	her	that book	prt.	to send

That the pattern in (447) is not accidental is clear from the fact that we find essentially the same in (448) where we see that the actual interpretation of PRO is restricted by the fact that the simplex reflexive zich/me of the inherently reflexive verb zich haasten'to hurry' must have an antecedent in its own clause; in the (a)-example third person zich requires PRO to be controlled by the third person subject, and in the (b)-examples first person me requires it to be controlled by the first person object of the clause. The unacceptability contrast between the primed examples again bears out that the subject control constructions cannot be passivized.

448

a.	Jani heeft	mej	verzekerd [PROi	zichi	niet	te hoeven	haasten].
	Jan has	me	assured	refl	not	to have.to	hurry
	'Jan assured me that he (=Jan) didnʼt have to hurry.'

a'.	*	Er	is mej	door Jani	verzekerd [PROi	zichi	niet	te hoeven	haasten].
		there	is me	by Jan	assured	refl	not	to have.to	hurry

b.	Jani heeft	mej	verzekerd [PROj	mej	niet	te hoeven	haasten].
	Jan has	me	assured	refl	not	to have.to	hurry
	'Jan assured me that I didnʼt have to hurry.'

b'.		Er	is mej	door Jani	verzekerd [PROj	mej	niet	te hoeven	haasten].
		there	is me	by Jan	assured	refl	not	to have.to	hurry

The examples in (449) show that PO-verbs like rekenen op'to count on' are perfectly compatible with passivization if they take a finite complement clause but not if they take a te-infinitival clause; examples such as (449b') are clearly degraded. This suggests again that PRO-subjects of te-infinitivals are obligatorily controlled. Note that this cannot be illustrated for the inherently reflexive PO-verbs in (444c), given that these cannot be passivized anyway.

449

a.	Jan rekent	erop	[dat	hij	binnenkort	mag	vertrekken].
	Jan counts	on.it	that	he	soon	is.allowed	leave
	'Jan is counting on it that heʼll be allowed to leave soon.'

a'.	Er	wordt	op	gerekend	[dat	hij	binnenkort	mag	vertrekken].
	there	is	on	counted	that	he	soon	is.allowed	leave
	'It can be counted on that heʼll be allowed to leave soon.'

b.	Jani rekent	erop [PROi	binnenkort	te mogen	vertrekken].
	Jan counts	on.it	soon	to be.allowed	leave
	'Jan counts on being allowed to leave soon.'

b'.	*?	Er	wordt	op	gerekend [PROarb	binnenkort	te mogen	vertrekken].
		there	is	on	counted	soon	to be.allowed	leave

For completeness' sake, note that some adjective phrases also take te-infinitivals as prepositional objects; examples are doordrongen (van)'convinced of the necessity of' and zeker (van)'certain of'. In such cases, the PRO-subject is controlled by the logical subject of the adjective (which surfaces as the subject of a copular sentence): Jani is ervan doordrongen [PROi dat boek te moeten lezen]'Jan is convinced of the necessity of having to read that book'. Whether we are dealing with obligatory control here is difficult to say given that subjects of predicatively used adjectival phrase normally cannot be omitted for independent reasons.
The discussion above has shown that there are good reasons for assuming that PRO-subjects of te-infinitivals differ conspicuously from PRO-subjects of om + te-infinitivals in that they are obligatorily controlled. This might also be supported by means of the nominalizations in (450a&b); Van Haaften (1991:100) deems (450b) to be unacceptable due to the lack of an overt controller for PRO. A potential problem is that example (450c) is acceptable, however, which is unexpected given the c-command restriction on obligatory control in (441c); we refer especially to Hoekstra (1999) for a possible solution of the c-command problem posed by (450c) which is based on the claim that the preposition van is not a preposition in the traditional sense of the word but a complementizer-like element; cf. Kayne (2000: part III) and Den Dikken (2006).

450

a.	Jansi bewering [PROi	dat boek	gelezen	te hebben]
	Janʼs assertion	that book	read	to have
	'Janʼs claim to have read that book'

b.	%	de bewering [PROarb	dat boek	gelezen	te hebben]
		the assertion	that book	read	to have
		'the claim to have read that book'

c.		de bewering	van Jani [PROi	dat boek	gelezen	te hebben]
		the assertion	of Jan	that book	read	to have

We did not mark example (450b) with an asterisk because some speakers at least marginally accept such examples. Koster (1984b: Section 5), for example, claims that "it is almost always possible to replace the subject controller of an NP by an article", and he further argues that obligatory control requires that the te-infinitival should be a complement of a verb. If we are indeed dealing with non-obligatory control in (450), this would not only account for the fact that some speakers accept (450b), but it would also straightforwardly explain that the controller can be expressed by means of a van-PP in examples such as (450c).
Although the discussion above has shown that it is not evident that the nominalization facts in (450) support the claim that PRO-subjects of all te-infinitivals are obligatorily controlled, we can still maintain that PRO-subjects of te-infinitivals selected by verbs cannot receive an arbitrary interpretation but must be controlled by a nominal argument of the matrix verb.

[+] II. Object control

There are not that many object control verbs taking te-infinitivals as arguments, and for this reason we have grouped the ditransitive verbs and the transitive PO-verbs together. Although causative psych-verbs functioning as object control verbs normally select om + te-infinitivals, a limited number of them take a te-infinitival.

451

Ditransitive verbs and transitive (PO-)verb: aanwrijven'to impute', overtuigen (van)'to convince (of)', toedichten'to impute', verdenken (van)'to suspect', verwijten'to reproach', voorwerpen'to accuse'Ditransitive verbs and transitive (PO-)verb: aanwrijven'to impute', overtuigen (van)'to convince (of)', toedichten'to impute', verdenken (van)'to suspect', verwijten'to reproach', voorwerpen'to accuse'

Causative object experiencer verbs with a cause subject: verbazen'to amaze', verwonderen'to surprise'

The verbs in (451a) normally require object control, as shown by example (452a). It is difficult to establish, however, whether we are dealing with obligatory control because passivization does not affect the syntactic status of the indirect object of a ditransitive verb like verwijten in (452a). And although the object of a transitive PO-verb like verdenken (van)'to suspect (of)' is promoted to subject, the acceptability of (452b') is still in full accordance with the characterization of obligatory control in (441): the derived subject can function as a unique, local and c-commanding controller of the PRO-subject.

452

a.	Jani	verweet	haarj [PROj	niets	te doen].
	Jan	reproached	her	nothing	to do
	'Jan reproached her for not doing anything.'

a'.	Er	werd	haarj	verweten [PROj	lui	te zijn].
	there	was	her	reproached	lazy	to be
	'She was reproached for being lazy.'

b.	De politiei	verdenkt	Elsj	ervan [PROj	de bank	overvallen	te hebben].
	the police	suspects	Els	of.it	the bank	prt.-robbed	to have
	'The police suspect Els of having robbed the bank.'

b'.	Zijj	wordt	ervan	verdacht [PROj	de bank	overvallen	te hebben].
	she	is	of.it	suspected	the bank	prt.-robbed	to have
	'Sheʼs suspected of having robbed the bank.'

The hypothesis that we are dealing with obligatory control predicts that the indirect object in examples such as (452) cannot be omitted. Example (453a) shows that this prediction is correct, but this is not of much help as the indirect object cannot be omitted either in examples such as (453b), in which the infinitival is replaced by a finite clause; it is therefore likely that the degraded status of (453a) is due to independent factors.

453

a.	Jani	verweet	*(haarj) [PROj	niets	te doen].
	Jan	reproached	her	nothing	to do
	'Jan reproached her for not doing anything.'

b.	Jani	verweet	*(haarj)	[dat	zij	niets	deed].
	Jan	reproached	her	that	she	nothing	did
	'Jan reproached her that she didnʼt do anything.'

There is nevertheless some indirect evidence that the verbs in (451a) involve obligatory control since some of these verbs allow control shift by manipulating the contents of the infinitival clause, e.g., by adding a deontic modal like mogen'to be allowed'. This is illustrated for the verb verwijten'to reproach' in (454); the fact that (454a) cannot be passivized supports the claim that the PRO-subject of the te-infinitival is obligatorily controlled.

454

a.	Jani	verweet	haarj [PROi	niets	te mogen	doen].
	Jan	reproached	her	nothing	to be.allowed	do
	'Jan reproached her for not being allowed to do anything.'

b.	*	Er	werd	haarj	verweten [PROarb	niets	te mogen	doen].
		there	was	her	reproached	nothing	to be.allowed	do

Another potential argument can be built on the nominalizations of the (a)-examples in (453) and (454). Since the indirect object must be realized as an aan-PP in nominalizations, we expect object control to be blocked by the c-command restriction on obligatory control in (441c). The result, however, is equivocal: although many speakers indeed consider example (455a) marked compared to (455b), some speakers tend to accept it. The primed examples show that omitting the controller altogether does give rise to a degraded result, and this supports the idea that we are dealing with obligatory control. However, some speakers report that they do accept example (455c), in which both arguments are left implicit, which goes against this idea. The examples in (455) show again that it is not evident that PRO-subjects of te-infinitivals are obligatorily controlled in nominalizations, which can perhaps be seen as evidence for Koster's (1984b) claim that obligatory control occurs in te-infinitival complements of verbs only.

455

a.	?	Jansi verwijt aan haarj [PROj	niets	te doen]	object control
		Janʼs reproach to her	nothing	to do

a'.	??	Jansi verwijt [PROarb	niets	te doen]
		Janʼs reproach	nothing	to do

b.		Jansi verwijt aan haarj [PROi	niets	te mogen	doen]	subject control
		Janʼs reproach to her	nothing	to be.allowed	do

b'.	??	het verwijt aan haarj [PROarb	niets	te mogen	doen]
		the reproach to her	nothing	to be.allowed	do

c.	?	het verwijt [PROarb	niets	(te mogen)	doen]	subject/object control
		the reproach	nothing	to be.allowed	do

Putting aside the problematic status of the examples in (455), we may conclude again that the verbal constructions discussed in this subsection confirm the prediction that PRO-subjects of te-infinitival argument clauses cannot receive an arbitrary interpretation but must be controlled by a nominal argument of the matrix verb.

[+] III. No PRO-subjects with split antecedents

There are good reasons for assuming that the verbs in (444) and (451) trigger obligatory control when they select a te-infinitival clause. First, the restrictions on obligatory control in (441a-c) predict that PRO cannot have arbitrary reference but must have an overt controller functioning as a nominal argument of the matrix verb. The two previous subsections have shown that this prediction is essentially correct. Second, the uniqueness restriction on obligatory control in (441d) predicts that PRO cannot have a split antecedent. This subsection will show that this prediction is also correct: the core data will be provided in Subsection A, while Subsection B discusses a potential counterexample.

[+] A. No split antecedents

Subsection I has shown that the ditransitive verb schrijven'to write' is compatible with subject as well as with object control; the relevant examples are repeated in (456a&b). That there can be such obligatory subject control verbs is to be expected given that the subject and the object are both in a c-command relation with the PRO-subject of the infinitival clause. However, the uniqueness restriction crucially predicts that such verbs do not allow PRO to take a split antecedent, and (456c) shows that this prediction is indeed correct. The reciprocal pronoun elkaar'each other' needs to have a plural antecedent in its clause, and this condition can only be met if PRO takes a split antecedent; the unacceptability of (456c) shows that this is not an acceptable option.

456

a.	Mariei	schreef	Janj [PROi/*j	hemj	dat boek	toe	te sturen].
	Marie	wrote	Jan	him	that book	prt.	to send
	'Marie wrote to Jan that she (= Marie) would send him (= Jan) that book.'

b.	Mariei	schreef	Janj [PROj/*i	haari	dat boek	toe	te sturen].
	Marie	wrote	Jan	her	that book	prt.	to send
	'Marie wrote to Jan that he (= Jan) should send her (= Marie) that book.'

c.	*	Mariei	schreef	Janj [PROi+j	elkaari+j	die boeken	toe	te sturen].
		Marie	wrote	Jan	each.other	those books	prt.	to send
		Intended reading: 'Marie wrote to Jan that they (= Marie'
		'Jan) should send each other those books.'

The examples in (457a&b), which were also discussed in Subsection I, show that the transitive PO-verb verzekeren'to assure' is likewise compatible with subject and object control. Crucially, however, (457c) shows that it does not allow PRO to take a split antecedent; the reflexive ons must be bound by a first person, plural antecedent, which is only possible if PRO takes a split antecedent; the unacceptability of (457c) shows that this is not an acceptable option.

457

a.	Jani heeft	mej	verzekerd [PROi	zichi	niet	te hoeven	haasten].
	Jan has	me	assured	refl	not	to have.to	hurry
	'Jan assured me that he didnʼt have to hurry.'

b.	Jani heeft	mej	verzekerd [PROj	mej	niet	te hoeven	haasten].
	Jan has	me	assured	refl	not	to have.to	hurry
	'Jan assured me that I didnʼt have to hurry.'

c.	*	Jani heeft	mej	verzekerd [PROi+j	onsi+j	niet	te hoeven	haasten].
		Jan has	me	assured	refl	not	to have.to	hurry
		Intended meaning: 'Jan assured me that we donʼt have to hurry.'

The cases above involve verbs that normally trigger subject control, but the same thing can be illustrated with verbs that normally trigger object control, subsection II has shown that the verb verwijten'to reproach' allows control shift; the relevant examples are repeated as (458a&b). The existence of such obligatory object control verbs is to be expected, given that the object and the subject are both in a c-command relation with the PRO-subject of the infinitival clause. However, a crucial prediction is now that such verbs do not allow PRO to take a split antecedent, and (458c) shows that this prediction is indeed correct; the use of the reciprocal elkaar'each other' again forces a plural interpretation on PRO, and thus requires the latter to take a split antecedent: this leads to ungrammaticality. For completeness' sake, example (458c) shows that split antecedents are not possible in nominalizations either. It should be stressed that this is not incompatible with Koster's claim that obligatory control occurs in te-infinitival complements of verbs only: although the claim that PRO-subjects in te-infinitival complements of nouns are not obligatorily controlled is compatible with cases in which PRO takes a split antecedent, it does not predict that this is always an option: the semantics of the construction as a whole may make this impossible.

458

a.	Jani	verweet	*(haarj) [PROj	niets	te doen].
	Jan	reproached	her	nothing	to do
	'Jan reproached her for not doing anything.'

b.	Jani	verweet	haarj [PROi	niets	te mogen	doen].
	Jan	reproached	her	nothing	to be.allowed	do
	'Jan reproached her for not being allowed to do anything.'

c.	*	Jani	verweet	haarj [PROi+j	niets	voor elkaari+j	te willen	doen].
		Jan	reproached	her	nothing	for each.other	to want	do
		Intended meaning: 'Jan reproached her because they (= Jan and she) donʼt want to do anything for each other.'

c'.	*	Jansi	verwijt	aan haarj [PROi+j	niets	voor elkaari+j	te willen	doen].
		Janʼs	reproach	to her	nothing	for each.other	to want	do

The discussion above has shown that subject and object control verbs do not allow the PRO-subject of a te-infinitival to take a split antecedent, which provides strong evidence in favor of assuming that PRO-subjects of such infinitivals are obligatorily controlled.

[+] B. A potential counterexample

The discussion so far has shown that PRO-subjects of te-infinitival argument clauses are obligatorily controlled: the controller must be overtly realized as a unique nominal co-argument of the infinitival clause. This also seems to be the general conclusion in Van Haaften (1991), although he points out that there is one category of verbs that seems to defy this generalization; some examples are given in (459).

459

Verbs of means of communication: antwoorden'to answer', berichten'to report', e-mailen'to email', faxen'to fax', meedelen'to announce', schrijven'to write', zeggen'to say'Verbs of means of communication: antwoorden'to answer', berichten'to report', e-mailen'to email', faxen'to fax', meedelen'to announce', schrijven'to write', zeggen'to say'

Some of these verbs were already listed in Subsection I as subject control verbs. In this function they are in fact entirely well-behaved in requiring the PRO-subject of their infinitival complement to be obligatorily controlled, as is clear from the fact that passivization is excluded. This is illustrated in (460) for zeggen'to say', which is normally used as a transitive verb in this context.

460

De directeuri

zei [PROi

morgen

langs

te komen].