Raising and Control(59) a it was believed [CP that the electrician was scared of mice]
b the electrician 1 was believed [IP t 1 to be scared of mice]
When the exceptional verb has a finite complement, the subject of this clause will not
move as it gets Case from its own finite inflection, making movement unnecessary.
When the clause is non-finite however, its subject will not receive Case from the non-
finite I and moreover will not get it from the light verb of the exceptional verb as this
will have been exchanged for the passive morpheme. Thus movement will be
necessary:
(60) IP
DP I'
the mouse 2 I vP
was 3 v'
v vP
t 3 v'
v VP
believe 1 -ed IP V'
t 2 to have croaked V
t 1
Certain adjectives can also appear in raising structures. As adjectives do not assign
Case, if an adjective takes a non-finite complement, the subject of that complement
will not get Case and will therefore have to move. Furthermore, if the adjective does
not assign a -role to its subject, the subject position will be underlyingly vacant and
will therefore either need to be filled by a pleonastic element or by a DP moving into
it:
(61) a it is unlikely [that the mouse survived]
b the mouse 1 is unlikely [t 1 to have survived]
One more point can be made concerning raising and raising-like structures. As this
movement allows a DP to escape the confines of the clause that it originates in, we
might wonder how far that DP can move. The following datum seems to suggest that a
subject can be raised over quite a distance:
(62) the builder 1 seemed [to be unlikely [to be considered [t 1 to be very skilled]]]