Definition:
A raising structure (or raising construction) is a syntactic pattern where a noun phrase originates semantically in an embedded clause but appears syntactically as the subject (or object) of the main clause. In “John seems to be happy,” “John” is the one who is happy (embedded clause) but appears as the subject of “seems” (main clause) — “John” has been “raised.”
In-Depth Explanation
Raising structures contrast with control structures in a critical way:
| Property | Raising | Control |
|---|---|---|
| Main verb assigns theta role to subject? | No — “seems” doesn’t assign a role to “John” | Yes — “tried” makes “John” the trier |
| Expletive subject possible? | Yes: “It seems that John is happy” | No: *”It tried to leave” |
| Idiom chunks can raise? | Yes: “The cat seems to be out of the bag” | No: *”The cat tried to be out of the bag” |
Common raising verbs:
- Subject-to-subject raising: seem, appear, happen, tend, turn out, be likely
- Subject-to-object raising: believe, consider, expect, find (“I believe him to be honest”)
The expletive test is the clearest diagnostic: if you can insert “it” as the main clause subject with a full clause below (“It seems that…”), it’s raising. If “it” doesn’t work (*”It tried that…”), it’s control.
Raising in Japanese:
Japanese doesn’t have raising in the same syntactic sense because Japanese doesn’t use infinitival complements the same way English does. The equivalent meanings are expressed through different strategies:
- “John seems happy” → ジョンは幸せらしい / ジョンは幸せそうだ / ジョンは幸せみたいだ
- These use evidential/modal suffixes (らしい, そう, みたい) rather than syntactic raising
Japanese “raising” equivalents don’t actually move the subject — instead, the subject stays in its base position and the evidential marker attaches. This is a fundamentally different structural strategy from English raising, which is why Japanese learners sometimes struggle with English seem/appear constructions.
Related Terms
See Also
Research
- Postal, P. M. (1974). On Raising: One Rule of English Grammar and Its Theoretical Implications. MIT Press. — The foundational work on raising constructions in generative grammar.
- Davies, W. D., & Dubinsky, S. (2004). The Grammar of Raising and Control: A Course in Syntactic Argumentation. Blackwell. — Comprehensive textbook covering both raising and control with detailed diagnostics.