Assignment 17


We have an analysis of constructions involving verbs like want, expect, try, ...
the details of which by now are familiar to you.

Consider now:

(1)   Harvey wants to own a Porsche.
(2)   Harvey seems to own a Porsche.

(3)   Harvey expects to be admired by women.
(4)   Harvey seems to be admired by women.

(5)   Harvey likes to take himself seriously.
(6)   Harvey seems to take himself seriously.

These pairs of sentences seem to have the same structure.  Yet there must be
some difference in the structures, because the two kinds of verbs cannot
always appear in the same context:

(7)   Harvey wants his wife to own a Porsche.
(8)  *Harvey seems his wife to own a Porsche.

(9)   Harvey expects his sons to be admired by women.
(10) *Harvey seems his sons to be admired by women.

(11)  Harvey would like you to wash him.
(12) *Harvey would seem you to wash him.

Remember what we said about sentences like (7), (9), and (11).  If 'seem' were
just like 'want', 'expect', and 'like', (8), (10), and (12) should be grammatical,
shouldn't they?

The following will also shed some light on the difference between the kinds of verbs:

(13)  It wants the beer.
(14) *It seems the beer.

(15) *It wants that she is happy.
(16)  It seems that she is happy.

(17)  It wants her to be happy.
(18) *It seems her to be happy.

(19) *There wants to be beer at the party.
(20)  There seems to be beer at the party.

(21) *Close tabs want to be being kept on my whereabouts.
(22)  Close tabs seem to be being kept on my whereabouts.

(23) *It wants to be obvious that you are lying.
(24)  It seems to be obvious that you are lying.

We already have an analysis of sentences with the verb 'want'. Our task here
will be to find an analysis of sentences with the verb 'seem' which can account
for the differences.  One key to the mystery is example (16), which provides
a clue to what sort of deep structure 'seem' is inserted into.  Answer
these questions:

    (a)  What sort of 'it' do we have in (16)?
    (b)  Does 'seem' seem to be transitive (two participants in DS)
         or intransitive (one participant in DS)? (I.e., how many Theta-roles?)
    (c)  Is 'want' transitive or intransitive?	  (I.e., how many Theta-roles?)

Consideration of the following may provide further clues:

(25)  That she wants to be happy seems to be obvious.
(26)  It seems to be obvious that she wants to be happy.
(27) *That she seems to be happy wants to be obvious.
(28) *It wants to be obvious that she seems to be happy.

(These examples should make perfect sense if you have arrived at the right
analysis.  When you're done, show that they do.)

Propose, present, and discuss an analysis that accounts for all these facts.
Your analysis should also account for the fact that (29) and (30)
are synonymous, while (31) and (32) are not:

(29)  Women seem to admire Harvey.
(30)  Harvey seems to be admired by women.

(31)  Women want to admire Harvey.
(32)  Harvey wants to be admired by women.

Find at least two other verbs that behave like 'seem', and show that
they do.