ABSTRACT
This chapter takes a closer look at raising sentences, an important example of sentences containing a noncanonical subject. There are two kinds of raising sentence. One type involves a subject, one of a small class of verbs, which we can call raising verbs. The other type involves a subject, a form of be, one of a small class of adjectives, which we can call raising adjectives. The chapter briefly explains transformational approaches and notes that the classical transformational approach faces the same objection as the classical transformational approach to passives: it raises questions to which it can provide no answer. The chapter clearly shows how the Principles and Parameters (P&P) approach answers these questions. It presents the Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG) approach to raising sentences making crucial use of a particular type of complex category. The chapter also considers some further examples of raising sentences, and considered how they could be analysed in both P&P and HPSG.
