Basic English Syntax with Exercises

Suggested answer for Exercise 4

The sentence David rolled the ball to the wall is similar in its structure to that in (b), but here we find no overt light verb in the v head position. Actually, the v head is occupied by an abstract light verb represented by e in the structure below. The arguments are the same and Case is assigned to them the same way as described above. The main difference is that the abstract light verb is a bound morpheme, which requires the main verb to move to the v position. The verb roll then moves on to the tense vP and I picking up the tense and agreement morphemes.