Open complement (xcomp): no subject of its own

Gist. Some verbs take a complement whose "subject" is not its own but borrowed from the main clause: Sue asked George to respond (George responds), You like to swim (you swim), I consider him honest, She looks beautiful, He painted the barn red. This is xcomp: it is always non-finite and has no subject of its own.

Conditions and exceptions. This covers: raising verbs (seem, appear, tend), control (want, try, persuade), copula-like verbs (become, remain, look), resultatives (paint red, make them martyrs). When the subordinate clause has its own finite subject, it is ccomp. If an xcomp has its own nsubj, it is an error; the exception is raising with there (there seems to be a problem: the notional subject problem attaches to be).

Examples. He says that you like to swim — xcomp(like, swim). — The cat seems to be in pain. — I became very upset.

In UD. xcomp without nsubj/nsubj:pass/csubj/csubj:pass; if the xcomp is a verb, it is not VBZ, VBP, VBD, MD.

Sources. UD docs/_en/dep/xcomp.md ("always non-finite"); UD docs/_en/specific-syntax.md, Functional control and Resultatives; UD docs/_u-dep/xcomp.md; Jespersen, MEG V, ch. XVIII "Subject + Infinitive as Object of Main Verb", §18.5x (text-1, p. 304); PropBank 3.1 seem.xml (seem.01 without ARG0), persuade.xml (persuade.01: ARG2 — "impelled action").

rule: en.verbal.xcomp-no-subject
what: xcomp has no subject of its own
match: x[rel=xcomp]
require: none s[rel=nsubj|nsubj:pass|csubj|csubj:pass, head=x]
severity: warn
source: UD docs/_en/dep/xcomp.md; UD 2.18 validator (check_single_subject, comment on xcomp)

rule: en.verbal.xcomp-nonfinite
what: a verbal xcomp is non-finite
match: x[rel=xcomp, upos=VERB|AUX]
require: not x[xpos=VBZ|VBP|VBD|MD]
severity: error
source: UD docs/_en/dep/xcomp.md; UD docs/_en/specific-syntax.md, Clausal core arguments

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