S′-deletion

An operation in early GOVERNMENT-BINDING THEORY which deletes an S′-NODE DOMINATING an S-node in a COMPLEMENT CLAUSE. By deleting this node, the boundary between the MATRIX VERB and the complement clause is weakened, so that the matrix verb can exceptionally CASE-mark the complement SUBJECT (subject-to-object RAISING) or properly govern the complement subject position (subject-to-subject raising).