SPEAKING

Verbs of this type cover a wide semantic spectrum, and take a corresponding diversity of complement clauses. It will be useful to deal with the subtypes one at a time. Note that all those verbs which may introduce direct speech can also show reported speech (in the Message role) through a THAT and/or a WH- complement clause.

TALK verbs—such as talk, speak, chat, joke—refer to the activity of social communication. They can introduce an ING or WH- clause by a preposition and this clause omits its subject when coreferential with main clause subject, e.g. John spoke about (Mary(’s)) leaving home.

Verbs from the DISCUSS subtype are transitive, with the Message in O function. They report some activity (which is likely to be extended in time), or something about which clarification is required—coded by an ING or WH- TO clause, e.g. They described the police rescuing the trapped child, We discussed whether to invite Mary.

The SHOUT subtype refers to manner of vocal production. These verbs may be used intransitively, without any mention of the Message (or Addressee or Medium). But they can also introduce direct speech, or a THAT clause, or a Message consisting of Label-NP-plus-preposition-plus-Content, which may be an ING or WH- complement clause. The Label can be omitted but the preposition must then be retained; this contrasts with verbs from the discuss subtype where the preposition will drop with the Message-Label. Thus:

(79a) They discussed/referred to (the news about) John(’s) being arrested

(79b) He shouted/read (the news) about John(’s) being arrested

The meanings of DISCUSS verbs relate to a specific Message (which must be stated); it can be a complement clause in O function. But the Message is an optional accompaniment of a SHOUT verb, and it is thus appropriate that any complement clause (as Message-Content) be introduced by a preposition. There is an important difference between refer to (in (79a)), which is a strictly transitive verb including an inherent preposition, and shout (in (79b)), which can optionally take an appropriate preposition plus complement clause or NP.

The REPORT subtype contains a fair number of verbs, we divided into eight sets. Leaving aside for the time being set (viii) (with promise and threaten), REPORT verbs are transitive with the Message in O slot. This may always be a THAT or WH- clause, corresponding to direct speech.

Verbs say, declare, state, affirm (in sets (i) and (ii)) necessarily make an assertion, and are restricted to THAT or WH- complements. Other REPORT verbs may relate to some fact, or to a durational activity, and then accept an ING complement, e.g. She reported/commented on/boasted about/admitted (John’s) having spent the past year in jail. (With confess (to) the complement clause subject must be coreferential with main clause subject and thus omitted, simply because one can only confess to something one has done oneself, e.g. He confessed to taking the gold.)

A Judgement TO construction is possible with declare, state, report, announce, claim, admit and other verbs that can provide straightforward introduction to an opinion about someone’s state, e.g. They declared/ admitted him to be insane. (Say, from this subtype, may only take a Judgement TO construction in the passive, e.g. He is said to be insane.) The Judgement to construction is not possible with verbs that include an inherent preposition, such as remark (on), boast (about/of), complain (about/of)—one must say She boasted that he was clever or She boasted about him/his being clever, not *She boasted (about) him to be clever. (The prohibition may essentially relate to the meanings of verbs like boast and complain, which include an emotional component that would not accord well with the ‘judgement’ meaning of this TO construction.) Explain is another verb which is not allowed in a Judgement TO sentence (She explained that he was ill, not *She explained him to be ill); the meaning of explain, ‘give reasons for something’, is incompatible with the meaning of the Judgement TO complement, ‘give a judgement about something’

Promise and threaten have the Addressee in O slot; this can be followed by with plus Message-Content, or a THAT clause, or direct speech. These verbs, plus undertake, offer and propose (which have the Message in O slot), may relate to the subject of the complement clause getting involved in the activity referred to by that clause, and this can be expressed through a Modal (FOR) TO complement. Since one generally promises/threatens/offers to do something oneself, the complement clause subject is most often coreferential with main clause subject and is then omitted, together with for, e.g. I offered to clean the house. All dialects allow a similar construction with promise and threaten when the Addressee NP is not stated, e.g. I promised to clean the house. Only some dialects permit this construction with promise when the Addressee is stated, e.g. I promised John to clean the house (dialects which exclude this are here restricted to a THAT construction, e.g. I promised John that I would clean the house). Promise is perhaps the only verb which—in some dialects—can freely omit the subject of a post-object Modal (FOR) TO clause when it is coreferential with main clause subject, i.e. in I promised John to clean the house it is I who will do the cleaning. All other verbs—e.g. order, persuade, urge—omit this NP when it is coreferential with main clause object, i.e. in I ordered John to clean the house it is John who should do the cleaning. It may be this surface similarity with I ordered John to clean the house—and the danger of semantic confusion—which has unconsciously motivated speakers of some dialects to consider I promised John to clean the house an ungrammatical sentence. (There are a couple of verbs which can omit the subject NP from a post-object Modal (FOR) TO complement when it is coreferential with the main clause subject only if the complement clause is passive, e.g. I asked/begged John to be allowed to clean his house.)

Undertake and offer may, exceptionally, have a Modal (FOR) TO clause with subject different from that of the main clause; for must then be retained—e.g. I offered for my charwoman to clean the house. Such a construction is infelicitous with promise and threaten, a THAT clause being used instead—thus I promised (John) that my charwoman would clean the house, not *I promised (John) for my charwoman to clean the house.

The INFORM subtype has Addressee in O slot. The Message is introduced by of or on or about (the preposition must drop before a THAT and may drop before a WH- complement). These verbs may relate to some fact (THAT), clarification (WH- or WH- TO), or durational activity (ING complement), e.g. Remind me that I have to set the alarm, She’ll inform us (about) whether (we have) to dress for dinner, Fred informed Mary about John’s having been waiting outside her door all afternoon. The basic construction for verbs from the TELL type is with Addressee as O, followed by preposition or or about plus Message, which can be a THAT, WH- or ING complement, very much as for INFORM.

Verbs from the ORDER subtype relate to a Message directed at the Addressee. The Addressee is in O slot, and is followed by the Message, which can be a THAT clause (generally including a Modal) or a Modal (FOR) TO or WH- TO complement. Alternatively, the Message may be direct speech. The Addressee may be omitted in the presence of direct speech or a THAT clause. The complement clause subject is sometimes not coreferential with main clause object. If this is so then for must be retained in a Modal (FOR) TO clause (recall that it may only be omitted when the complement clause immediately follows the main clause verb), e.g. The general ordered all officers for their men to parade at dawn. (A fair number of speakers find this ungrammatical, and might instead use a THAT construction, i.e. The general ordered all officers that their men should parade at dawn.) Typically, someone is ordered or instructed or recommended to do something themself (rather than for someone else to do something); the expectation with ORDER verbs is for the subject of a Modal (FOR) TO complement clause to be coreferential with main clause object and then the complement clause subject and for are omitted, e.g. The general ordered all officers to parade at dawn. Recommend, from this subtype, offers advice rather than instructions, and may then take an ING complement.

There is a certain parallel between the Secondary verb type MAKING and the ORDER subtype of SPEACKING, with Causer corresponding to Speaker and the complement clause with the MAKING verb corresponding to the Message of the ORDER verb. Thus, I forced John to go and I ordered/persuaded John to go. There are, however, significant differences. MAKING verbs involve action to bring about some event and are restricted to Modal (FOR) TO complements; ORDER verbs merely use speech to influence the Addressee and may also take THAT complements. Note also that there is an additional role with ORDER, the Addressee, which may be included before the complement clause, e.g. I ordered/ persuaded John that his wife should sign the declaration herself.

Some ORDER verbs may have a passive complement clause with inanimate subject, e.g. General Vasey ordered the barracks to be cleaned. In fact he must have ordered the appropriate people to perform the task; the use of this construction focuses on what was done to the barracks, ignoring the insignificant matter of which particular minions did it. (From the MAKING type only cause behaves in this way, e.g. He caused it to be destroyed.)

Just like negative MAKING verbs, so negative ORDER verbs such as prohibit, dissuade, discourage (and, nowadays, forbid) take a (FROM) ING complement. Here the main clause object must be identical to complement clause subject—thus John dissuaded Mary from going is a close syntactic analogue of John prevented Mary (from) going.

The FORGIVE type conveys the speaker’s emotional attitude towards the Addressee, which is often realized through speech. Some verbs from this type may have an ING clause, introduced by a preposition, giving additional information about the attitude or the reason for it. Like TALK and DISCUSS, this subtype does not usually introduce direct speech, and cannot take a THAT or WH- complement clause.