Verb Typesassumption of a position to which the verb moves. If we assume that this is indeed a
light verb, we can account for the Case assignment to the object as well:
(68) vP
DP v'
there v VP
arrived 1 v DP V'
e a letter V
t 1
Obviously, this light verb is not the same as the one we get in the causative
construction as there is no causative interpretation here and no agent -role assigned.
In fact, this verb does not appear to have much of a meaning at all. But this might be
an advantage in accounting for the other properties of the there construction. Recall
Burzio’s generalisation: only a verb which assigns a -role to its subject assigns an
accusative Case. The causative light verb fits this restriction well: it assigns an agent
-role to its subject and an accusative Case to the theme in the specifier of the VP. If
the abstract light verb in the there construction is restricted by this, then the fact that it
assigns no -role to the there subject, accounts for why we do not find simple
accusative DPs in the theme position.
However, we do not want to say that there is absolutely no connection between the
abstract light verb and its subject, as there are restrictions placed on it: the subject must
be there and not it. Thus, suppose that there is a special argument of this predicate,
which receives no actual -role from it but is restricted by it. A similar notion of
‘quasi-argument’ has been proposed for cases such as:
(69) a it rained
b it snowed
c it’s windy
The it subjects that accompany weather predicates are clearly not arguments as they
have no referential content, but they are somehow not quite as empty as the expletive it
in examples like (62b).
One indication of the difference between the quasi-argument it and the expletive it
is that only with the former is a purpose clause licensed, i.e. a clause that acts to
modify a predicate by providing a purpose for the described event:
(70) a it rains [to feed the plants]
b *it seems [that Rob is rich] [to impress the neighbours]
c Rob seems [to be rich] [to impress the neighbours]
The intended interpretation of (70b) is that Rob pretends to be rich in order to impress
the neighbours, an thus it is the ‘seeming’ rather than the ‘being rich’ that is being
Case