Johanna asked me to forward this. I'll respond in a another post. Craig -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: See spot run Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2006 09:04:48 -0800 From: Johanna Rubba <[log in to unmask]> To: Craig Hancock <[log in to unmask]> References: <[log in to unmask]> <p06110400bffc45921996@[192.168.2.2]> <[log in to unmask]> Craig, I hate continuing to ask people to post for me, but I haven't resolved the e-mail issue yet. As to "See Spot run", this construction isn't limited to intransitive verbs, as your "I saw the young lady steal the watch". And I think the main argument for seeing these as object complements is the case marking on the subject of the infinitive verb: "I saw _her_ steal the watch." These were analyzed as subject-raising constructions in transformational grammar -- the tension between the subject role of the "her" and its object role causes the problem and the variation in analytical approaches. Regarding causatives vs. perception verbs, English regularly treats perception verbs as transitives, if not causatives, so I don't think it's odd to find them in these constructions. As to your process argument, the lack of either tense or aspect marking on the verb works against it; this kind of marking serves exactly the purpose of not imposing a particular tense/aspect reading. Dr. Johanna Rubba, Associate Professor, Linguistics Linguistics Minor Advisor English Department California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo E-mail: [log in to unmask] Tel.: 805.756.2184 Dept. Ofc. Tel.: 805.756.2596 Dept. Fax: 805.756.6374 URL: http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/