ABSTRACT
In Chapter 12, to which the present is by way of a footnote, 1 we considered experimental investigations of finite clauses complementing volitional verbs. While we were able to confirm the hypothesis that modality choice in the complementing clause was influenced by whether its subject was willing or reluctant to undertake the proposed action, we experienced difficulty in establishing the modal form that seemed to correlate with either ‘willingness’ or ‘reluctance’. Relevant parts of the elicitation test battery (cf. Greenbaum and Quirk 1970) were subsequently revised and expanded so as to extend the range of volitional verbs concerned and also to include an instance of complementation involving verb phrases with he as well as go. But as in the earlier experiments, the main variable tested was the willingness or reluctance of the subject in the complement clause to undertake the action urged by the superordinate subject, and again the test techniques used were (a) the ‘forced-choice’ procedure and (b) ‘composition’ with a specified and restricted choice. For (a), the test items were:
He wanted to see the play, so I recommended that he …………
He was very reluctant to leave, but I recommended that he …………
with an instruction on the following pattern:Please read the above sentences carefully, and then fill one of the blanks with go and the other with went.
