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Third Construction

SYNTAX: construction typical of Dutch and German in which part of an infinitival complement appears to be extraposed. EXAMPLE: in (Dutch) (i)a the infinitival complement has been extraposed in toto, but in (i)b, the so-called third construction, part of the complement (de prijs) is in situ.

(i)   a  Kees heeft geweigerd [de prijs in ontvangst te nemen]
      b  Kees heeft de prijs geweigerd [in ontvangst te nemen]
 	 Kees has   the prize refused  in acceptance to take
         'Kees has refused to accept the prize'
The construction in (i)b can be analyzed as a case of remnant extraposition: some element(s) - de prijs in (i)b - is (are) removed (by scrambling) from the infinitival complement, before the remnant of it is extraposed. In many cases, the remnant will only contain the infinitival verb and the result looks like a verb raising construction. The distinguishing feature is the impossibility of IPP in case of a third construction, and the fact that IPP is obligatory in case of verb raising (cf. (iii).
(ii)	Jan heeft een boek geprobeerd te lezen
	Jan has   a   book tried      to read
(iii)	Jan heeft een boek proberen te lezen
	'Jan has tried to read a book'
The third construction cannot be equated with VP Raising.
LIT. Besten, H. den & J. Rutten (1989)
Rutten, J. (1991)