Basic English Grammar with Exercises

Verb Types

which the main verb moves. The only possibility is that there is another specifier
position between the two:

(118) vP

DPagent v'

v XP

DP X'

X VP

DPtheme V'

V DPgoal

The remaining problems to solve are the identity of X and how the theme argument
gets Case if the goal argument gets the Case assigned by the light verb. The obvious
answer to the latter is that X provides the theme with its Case, which in turn suggests
that X is a Case assigning head, i.e. a verb or a preposition. If X is a verb, we have a
structure which is identical to those involving multiple light verbs:

(119) vP

DPagent v'

v vP

v'

v VP

DPtheme V'

V DPgoal

Can this analysis be justified? If one thinks of the event structure involved in the
meaning of these verbs they all seem to work as follows:

(120) e = e 1 Æ e 2 Æ e 3 : e 1 = ‘X does something’
e 2 = ‘Y changes location or possession’
s 3 = ‘Y is in a certain location or possession’

In other words, if Gary gives Pete a present, Gary does something which causes the
book to undergo a movement or change of possession, the result of which it ends up
with Pete. The middle event, involving a change of position or possession is what
provides us with the position for the moved goal: