Tough movement
Encyclopedia
In formal syntax
, tough movement is a term used to describe sentences of the form: This problem is tough to solve. John is easy to please.
The phenomenon is informally named like this because example sentences like (1) typically involve the word "tough".
In these sentences, this problem is logically the object of solve, and John is logically the object of please. Both sentences can therefore be paraphrased as: It is tough to solve this problem It is easy to please John
In Transformational grammar
, it is therefore assumed that the object exists in the normal position after the verb in the underlying structure
of sentences like (1-2), just like in (1a-2a), but that it is then moved
to the front in the overt structure.
In classical government and binding theory
it is no longer assumed that the object is moved directly to the subject position. Rather, due to theory-internal considerations, it is assumed that there are two NPs:
the NP "John" is base-generated in the matrix clause (namely, Spec-VP), and a covert movement (involving a null operator
) is assumed in the embedded clause:
Johni is easy [Opi PROj to please ti] (see the tree diagram of the embedded clause below)
Other adjectives that act in the same way include easy, difficult, hard, fun and boring.
Syntax
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
, tough movement is a term used to describe sentences of the form: This problem is tough to solve. John is easy to please.
The phenomenon is informally named like this because example sentences like (1) typically involve the word "tough".
In these sentences, this problem is logically the object of solve, and John is logically the object of please. Both sentences can therefore be paraphrased as: It is tough to solve this problem It is easy to please John
In Transformational grammar
Transformational grammar
In linguistics, a transformational grammar or transformational-generative grammar is a generative grammar, especially of a natural language, that has been developed in the Chomskyan tradition of phrase structure grammars...
, it is therefore assumed that the object exists in the normal position after the verb in the underlying structure
Deep structure
In linguistics, specifically in the study of syntax in the tradition of generative grammar , the deep structure of a linguistic expression is a theoretical construct that seeks to unify several related structures. For example, the sentences "Pat loves Chris" and "Chris is loved by Pat" mean...
of sentences like (1-2), just like in (1a-2a), but that it is then moved
Wh-movement
Wh-movement is a syntactic phenomenon found in many languages around the world, in which interrogative words or phrases show a special word order. Unlike ordinary phrases, such wh-words appear at the beginning of an interrogative clause...
to the front in the overt structure.
In classical government and binding theory
Government and binding theory
Government and binding is a theory of syntax and a phrase structure grammar in the tradition of transformational grammar developed principally by Noam Chomsky in the 1980s...
it is no longer assumed that the object is moved directly to the subject position. Rather, due to theory-internal considerations, it is assumed that there are two NPs:
the NP "John" is base-generated in the matrix clause (namely, Spec-VP), and a covert movement (involving a null operator
Operator (linguistics)
In linguistics, an operator is a special variety of determiner including the visible interrogatives, the quantifiers, and the hypothetical invisible pronoun denoted Op...
) is assumed in the embedded clause:
Johni is easy [Opi PROj to please ti] (see the tree diagram of the embedded clause below)