Assignment 19:   Expect and Persuade

(1)  She expected me to kiss the frog.
(2)  She persuaded me to kiss the frog.

These two sentences seem to have the same structure.  Yet there must be
some difference between expecting and persuading, because the two verbs cannot
always appear in the same context:

(3)  It expects the beer.
(4) *It persuades the beer.
(Actually, (4) might be grammatical in some very odd context involving
some non-standard assumptions about the cognitive abilities of beer.  Ignore
those for now.)

(5) *I expected Bill that the beer should be warm.
(6)  I persuaded Bill that the beer should be warm.
(7)  I expected the whisky to warm Bill.
(8)  The whiskey was expected to warm Bill.
(9) *I persuaded the whisky to warm Bill.
10)  I expected there to be a fly in your beer.
11)  There was expected to be a fly in the beer.
12) *I persuaded there to be a fly in your beer.
13)  I expect close tabs to be kept on her whereabouts.
14)  Close tabs are expected to be kept on her whereabouts.
15) *I will persuade close tabs to be kept on her whereabouts.
16)  I expect it to be clear that I like your plan.
17) *I will persuade it to be clear that I like your plan.
18)  Harvey expects himself to be imitated by his associates.


Our task here will be to find an analysis of sentences with the verb 'expect',
and a different analysis of sentences with the verb 'persuade', which can
account for the differences.

Answer these questions:

    (a)  What sort of 'it' do we have in (16)?
    (b)  Is 'expect' transitive or intransitive?	How many arguments?
	 What Theta-roles does 'expect' assign?
    (c)  How many arguments does 'persuade' require?
	 What Theta-roles does 'persuade' assign?

Propose, present, and discuss an analysis that accounts for all these facts.
Your analysis should also account for the fact that (19) and (20)
are synonymous, while (21) and (22) are not:

   (19)  Bill expected the doctor to examine Betty.
   (20)  Bill expected Betty to be examined by the doctor.

   (21)  Bill persuaded the doctor to examine Betty.
   (22)  Bill persuaded Betty to be examined by the doctor.




NOTE: other verbs that work like 'persuade' are

	force, compel, tell, ask

Can you find any more?
What other verbs are like 'expect'?