Practical Grammar 13

When it rains, it pours

Implement the analysis of weather verbs that is given on p. 107 of the textbook. Your grammar should predict the following facts:

(1) It rained.
(2) *Ingrid rained

For (1), your grammar should produce the Argument Structure below as the only grammatical output:

Existential sentences

Existential sentences require the word "there" as their subject argument. Treat this word as a noun. They express that an instance of the concept named by the postverbal NP exists or comes about. Sentence (3) for instance means the same as "A storm arose".

From what was said above, the constrast between (3) and (4) follows. Implement these two sentences:

(3) There arose a storm
(4) *Ingrid arose a storm

Sentence (3) should get a single Argument Structure, namely the following one:

Weather verbs and existential verbs in functional control constructions

Now, we are going to test whether your solution to the exercise in Unit 9 and your solutions to the two problems above work together correctly.

Add the following test items to your grammar and parse all items:

(5) *There bought olives
(6) *Ingrid rained
(7) *There rained
(8) *Ingrid arose a storm (9) *It arose a storm (10) *It tried to rain
(11) *There tried to arise a storm
(12) It seemed to rain
(13) There seemed to arise a storm

The data above together with the data from Unit 9 illustrate the following generalizations:

a. The verb buy tolerates as its SUBJ the word Ingrid but not the words it and there.
b. The verb rain tolerates as its SUBJ the word it but not the words Ingrid and there.
c. The verb arise in its existential use tolerates as its SUBJ the word there but not the words Ingrid and it.
d. The verb buy can serve as the head of the complement of the raising verb seem, but the verbs rain and arise cannot.
e. All three verbs buy, rain and arise can serve as the head of the complement of the control verb try.

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