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Syntax
Lecture 7:
Verb Positions
The mobile verb
• The verb is, of course, the head of the VP and so
has a position inside the VP
– He could [VP be a doctor]
• The negative appears before the VP
– He might not [VP be a doctor]
• Sometimes the verb appears before the negative:
– He is not [VP a doctor]
• Therefore, in the last case, the verb is not inside
the VP
The mobile verb
• Moreover, sometimes the verb appears in
front of the subject
– is he a doctor
• As the subject is the first element of the IP, in
these cases the verb does not even appear to
be inside the IP!
– is [IP he a doctor]
VP external verb positions
• When the verb is not inside the VP, what
positions does it occupy?
• There is a big difference between the verb
inside and outside the VP:
– He might not [VP be a doctor]
– He is/was not [VP a doctor]
• Inside the VP, the verb is in its non-finite form
• Outside the VP, it is in a finite form (tensed)
VP external verb positions
• As tense is in the inflection position, this
suggests that in this case the verb is in the
inflection position
A question
• How can there be a VP with no V in it?
Some answers
• According to X-bar theory, there cannot be a
VP that lacks a verb:
– All phrases have heads
• So the verb must be in the VP
• But the verb is in the I position which is not
inside the VP
• So the verb is in two positions:
– The verb position inside the VP
– The inflection position outside the VP
Some answers
• The only way that
something can be in two
positions is by movement
• So the verb moves from
the V position to the I
position
Why would the verb move?
• The verb only moves to I when the inflection is
a tense:
– he might not [VP be a doctor]
– ... him to not [VP be a doctor]
– he is not [VP -- a doctor]
• We know that tense is different from other
inflections in that it is a bound morpheme
• Clearly the verb moves to I to ‘bind’ the tense
inflection
V to I movement in detail
• At D-structure the verb is
in V and the tense is in I
• As the I position is already
filled, V cannot move into
the same place
• it must attach itself to the I
• The structure we get is an
adjunction of one head to
another
Head Adjunction
• Head adjuncts are not
unheard of
– E.g. Compound nouns
• headed by nouns
• have a noun or an adjective
adjoined to them:
• The adjunct rule
– Xn  Xn, Ym
• Where m = 2 if n > 0, otherwise
m=0
V to I movement and negation
• Most verbs cannot move to I when there is a negative:
– Auxiliary verbs (be and have) can:
•
•
•
•
He might not [VP be reading]
He is not [VP -- reading]
He should not [VP have gone]
He has not [VP -- gone]
– Main verb be can
• He will not [VP be rich]
• He is not [VP -- rich]
– Possessive have can in some dialects
• He might not [VP have any money]
• He has n’t [VP -- any money]
V to I movement and negation
• The majority of verbs cannot move in the
presence of negation:
– * he read not [VP -- the book]
– * he loved not [VP -- Mary]
– * he thought not [ -- about the problem]
• Instead, there is a do in the inflection position:
– He did not [VP read the book]
– He did not [VP love Mary]
– He did not [VP think about the problem]
Do insertion as a rescue remedy
• What appears to be going on is:
– The tense in I is a bound morpheme needing
binding
– The verb cannot move past the negation (for some
reason)
– So if the verb moves it is ungrammatical and if the
verb does not move it is ungrammatical
– Therefore a meaningless do is used to support the
inflection
Movement Outside IP
• When the verb precedes the subject it is in a
head position outside the IP
• We know that the first head position before the
IP is the complementiser
• We might suppose that the verb is in C in this
case:
– [CP is [IP he – [VP -- a doctor]]
• Note:
– The verb is finite (tensed)
– The I position is empty and cannot be filled
• * be he will [ -- a doctor]
Evidence that the verb is in C
• The phenomena we are looking at is usually
termed Inversion
• There is one construction which either involves
inversion or an overt complementiser:
– if he had been a doctor, he would have cured himself
– had he been a doctor, he would have cured himself
• The overt complementiser and the inverted
auxiliary are in complementary distribution
– * if had he been a doctor ...
I to C movement
• Given what we
have said so far, it
seems reasonable
to assume that
the verb moves to
the C position
after it has moved
to the I position
I to C movement
• Of course, the
other thing that
can move to C is
an inflection
Why do verbs move to C?
• There are two explanations for why the verb
moves to C:
– Similarly to V to I movement, there is a bound
morpheme in C
• This morpheme appears in interrogatives, so it seems
to be a question particle
– [CP Q [IP he is a doctor]]

[CP is-Q [IP he a doctor]]
• Obviously this morpheme is phonologically empty
• Some languages have overt question particles
Why do verbs move to C?
• There are two explanations for why the verb
moves to C:
– Similarly to Wh-movement, I to C movement is
semantically motivated
• Moving I to C plays a role in interpreting a clause as
interrogative
• In these lectures, we will not attempt to
choose between these
• The main point is that there is obviously a
reason why I to C movement happens
No main verb inversion?
• At first, it appears that main verbs (apart from
copular be and possessive have) cannot invert:
–
–
–
–
is he a doctor
have you any money
* read you a book
* believe you in fairies
• In these cases, we use do-insertion again:
– did you read a book
– do you believe in fairies
• Note: do is finite, so it is inserted into I and then moved to C
No main verb inversion?
• We also get inversion with Wh-movement and in
most cases main verbs cannot move to C:
–
–
–
–
* what read you
what did you read
* where met you Mary
where did you meet Mary
• But there is one case where we do not get doinsertion:
– who read the book
– * who did read the book
No main verb inversion?
• The obvious question is why
• Three possible answers
– In this case, the complementiser position is left
empty:
• [CP who – [IP – read-s [VP -- books]]]
– In this case, the wh-phrase stays in subject
position and nothing is in the CP:
• [CP -- [IP who read-s [VP -- books]]]
– In this case, the verb moves to the C position:
• [CP who read-s [IP -- [VP -- books]]]
An empty complementiser?
• But there doesn’t
seem to be much
difference between
this interrogative
and others?
• So why should the
complementiser be
different?
No Wh-movement
• Again, why is the
complementiser
different in this clause
than others?
• How is this clause
interrogative if no whelement moves to
specifier of CP?
Main verb in C
• In this case the C and
CP are no different to
other interrogatives
• But we need to
explain why the main
verb can move to C
here but not in other
cases
Why can V move to C sometimes?
• The big difference between the cases when V
can and cannot move to C concerns the
subject:
– * read you the book
– * what read you
– * when read you the book
– who read the book
• In all the ungrammatical cases the subject
follows the main verb
Why can V move to C sometimes?
• General Principle
– The English subject must precede the verb
• Only when the subject moves to the specifier
of CP can the verb be in C and still follow it
• In all other cases the verb must stay behind
the subject and C must be filled by an auxiliary
Conclusion
• There are 3 positions we find verbs in
• The verb originates in V
• It moves to I
– If I is filled with a bound morpheme
• It moves to C
– If the clause is interrogative
• Main verbs cannot move to I when there is a negation
(do-insertion)
• Main verbs cannot move to C
– If they are not in I
– If moving to C puts them in front of the subject