Lesson plan
Responsive predicate
In formal semantics a responsive predicate is an embedding predicate which can take either a declarative or an interrogative complement. For instance, the English verb know is responsive as shown by the following examples. # Bill knows whether Mary left. # Bill knows that Mary left. Responsives are contrasted with rogatives such as wonder which can only take an interrogative complement and anti-rogatives such as believe which can only take a declarative complement. # Bill wonders whether Mary left. # *Bill wonders that Mary left. # *Bill believes whether Mary left. # Bill believes that Mary left. Some analyses have derived these distinctions from type compatibility while others explain them in terms of particular properties of the embedding verbs and their complements.
Article summary
In formal semantics a responsive predicate is an embedding predicate which can take either a declarative or an interrogative complement. For instance, the English verb know is responsive as shown by the following examples. # Bill knows whether Mary left. # Bill knows that Mary left. Responsives are contrasted with rogatives such as wonder which can only take an interrogative complement and anti-rogatives such as believe which can only take a declarative complement. # Bill wonders whether Mary left. # *Bill wonders that Mary left. # *Bill believes whether Mary left. # Bill believes that Mary left. Some analyses have derived these distinctions from type compatibility while others explain them in terms of particular properties of the embedding verbs and their complements.
Key claims
No claims recorded.
Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
No sources recorded.
Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.