tough movement

A term used in TRANSFORMATIONAL GRAMMAR, referring to a RULE which involves moving a NOUN PHRASE out of the PREDICATE of a COMPLEMENT SENTENCE. Tough is one of a CLASS of ADJECTIVES (others being hard, easy, simple, difficult, etc.) which have been the focus of discussion ever since Noam Chomsky’s discussion of pairs such as John is eager/easy to please. Sentences such as The ball was easy for John to catch were said to be derived by tough movement from the structure _NP[it _S[for John to catch the ball]_S]_NP was easy, via a rule which EXTRAPOSES the complement (it was easy for John to catch the ball). The rule of tough movement took the non-SUBJECT noun phrase from the extraposed complement (i.e. the ball) and substituted it for the initial subject PRONOUN of the sentence as a whole (i.e. it). Other formulations of this rule have been suggested, and the extent of the rule’s application has been controversial.