ABSTRACT
This chapter revisits the interplay between locality and feature checking by taking a look at putative examples of defective intervention effects, i.e., instances of intervention by an element whose formal features have all been checked. Contrary to Chomsky (2000) and the evidence adduced in favor of defective intervention in Chapter 4, it is argued that only interveners that fully match the Probe and Goal featurally should block Agree. Apparent cases of Defective Intervention have been reanalyzed in a way consistent with this position. This is achieved by careful examination of the content of features and feature hierarchies. If correct, the analysis entertained here provides support for distinguishing between two suboperations (Match and Value) in the formulation of Agree.
