Assignment 22

I.  An EASY Problem

(1)  For Harry to acquire those frogs will be    { easy      } .
                                                 { hard      }
                                                 { difficult }
                                                 { tough     }

(2)  It will be  { easy      }  for Harry to acquire those frogs.
                 { hard      }
                 { difficult }
                 { tough     }

(3)  To acquire those frogs will be         { easy      }  for Harry.
                                            { hard      }
                                            { difficult }
                                            { tough     }

(4)  It will be  { easy      }  to acquire those frogs.
                 { hard      }
                 { difficult }
                 { tough     }

Provide reasonable analyses for a sample of these sentences.  Discuss
as thoroughly as necessary.

II.  A HARD PROBLEM

The adjectives 'hard' and 'easy' are interesting.  They can appear
in some of the same structures as ordinary adjectives, like 'rectangular':

    (5)   The brick was hard.
    (6)   The test was easy.
    (7)   The building was rectangular.

But they can also appear in structures where ordinary adjectives cannot:

    (9)   Louise inserted the brick into the hole.
   (10)  *Louise inserted into the hole.

   (11)   The brick was hard to insert into the hole.
   (12)   The brick was easy to insert into the hole.
   (13)  *The brick was rectangular to insert into the hole.

There must be something special about these adjectives.  Let's investigate them:

   (16)  The socks were easy to put on.
   (18)  The stone was hard to lift.
   (21)  The stone was hard for Louise to lift.
   (24)  Betty was easy for Fred to talk to.
   (25)  It will not be easy for the gerbils to get out of the cage.
   (26)  The cage will not be easy for the gerbils to get out of.

Before you decide on an analysis for 'hard' and 'easy', notice the following:

   (28)  To put the socks on the gorilla was easy.
   (30)  It was hard to put the socks on the gorilla.

   (42)  Tabs will be hard to keep on Betty.
   (44) *Tabs will be ready to keep on Betty.

In the above examples, be careful to note the meaning differences.
In all of the examples, think about the Theta-roles assigned by the
Verbs and Adjectives.  If you can discern those accurately, it will guide
your analysis.

Now the problem, of course, is to propose an analysis (i.e. assumed
deep structures and derivations, including the precise characterization
of any movements involved) to generate the grammatical
sentences and account for all the differences in grammaticality and
interpretation.