Linguist Forum
Specializations => Morphosyntax => Topic started by: mallu on April 24, 2014, 12:16:55 AM
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Can a non-finite subjunctive clause with null T occur with any verb?,provided that they are not semantically barred form choosing a clause as their arguement
here is an e.g. of a sentence
1) He requested[that she have a second chance]
Are the following sentences O.K
2) He wanted that she be given a second chance
3) The company requires that their new Chairman be a Non-European(Wrong? ,but the reason is not non-finiteness of the subjunctive clause?)
4) He wished that the new President take some initiative for talks
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The distribution of clausal complements is limited in English. Some verbs only take infinitives, while others only take clauses, and some can take both.
1) "Request" can take a 'that' clause.
2) This is ungrammatical, and I don't think any native speaker of English would say it. It is acceptable in other languages and the default in Greek, for example.
3) This is acceptable. It's a little more formal than an infinitive, but both are fine.
4) Certainly the 'that' clause is acceptable. The use of the subjunctive is a little weird here. "would take" is much more natural, or also "took" (the past subjunctive).