On the distinction between raising and control

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the successfulness of the traditional tests used to distinguish between Raising and Control predicates. Moreover, the study also aims to examine how well these tests comply with the movement theory on Control. The study is based on the Principles and Parameters approach to grammar. Since the aim of the study is to investigate these tests’ compliance with the movement theory on Control, this theory is also discussed in the present study. To investigate authentic uses of Raising and Control predicates a qualitative corpus method has been used. A total number of 1200 sentences have been studied. Furthermore, the native speaker’s judgement task has been used to judge the grammaticality of a set of representative sentences. The results show that the tests used to distinguish between Raising and Control predicates are at most times effective in fulfilling their task. However, some of these tests have their own limits which need to be taken into consideration. Moreover, the results also shows that the traditional tests comply with the movement theory on Control.