A nominative-accusative contrast
This is from "A Student's Introduction to English Grammar" by R. Huddleston and G. Pullum (p.210):
"Infinitival clauses
In to-infinitivals a personal pronoun with a nominative-accusative contrast always takes accusative form:
i [For them to refuse you a visa] was quite outrageous.
ii All I want is [for us to be reunited]."
What does the NP "a nominative-accusative contrast" mean in the passage above?
Does it mean this:
For them to refuse you a visa versus *For they to refuse you a visa
for us to be reunited versus *for we to be reunited?
Top answer
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anonymous a nominative-accusative contrast
It means that there are two different options in the grammatical position:
nominative = subject position (subject of the infinitive verb)
accusative = object position (object of a preposition or verb in the matrix clause.)
0anonymousWhat does the NP "a nominative-accusative contrast" mean in the passage above?
Does it mean this:
For them to refuse you a visa versus *For they to refuse you a visa
for us to be reunited versus *for we to be reunited?
Yes, but the reason for saying
a personal
0
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