ABSTRACT
As discussed in previous chapters, it is commonly assumed that syntactic arguments express the semantic arguments of the verb in a sentence. In the last chapter we have seen the range of variable relations between the verb and its direct object in Chinese. Certain of these relations pose a challenge to this assumption, as demonstrated by the case of unselected object discussed there, where the noun phrase in the object argument position does not express a direct semantic argument of the verb, but refers to an argument in a modifying conceptual clause. The proposed analysis, based on enriched composition and an elaborate syntax of conceptual structures, shows that underlying such cases are much richer conceptual structures than meet the eye.
