7.3. Motivation for the Lexical Approach

The main motivation for the lexical approach is at the same time the main drawback for the constructional approach, namely, that it is able to account for lexical idiosyncrasies. The reason is that according to this approach the lexical entry of the verb contains all the information about the clausal structures it will head. An example will serve to illustrate this point. Consider the verbs ask, order and tell. The three can appear with a direct object followed by an infinitive. But only the first two can show up in the Causative Motion construction:

(7.7) a. I asked him to go out of the room.

b. I asked him out of the room.

(7.8) a. I ordered him to go out of the room.
b. I ordered him out of the room.

(7.9) a. I told him to go out of the room.
b. * I told him out of the room.