5 1414 native speaker intuitions would like make comments marilyn silva questions control structures like 1 johnny asked teacher go bathroom 2 johnny asked go movies least native speakers acceptable allow interpretation matrix subject controller believe interpetation sentences fully explainable terms speech act semantics syntax needed first clear person asked potential agent unmarked case empty subject also supposed agent supposed perform future action specified verb phrase infinitive clause therefore first option object control case 1 preferential interpretation overridden pragmatic factors relative social status participants student vs teacher relatively unlikely though excluded student ask teacher something therefore seems reasonable look alternative intepretation case ask reasonable antecedent understood subject potential beneficiary request e asker asker benefits potential action performed addressee request johnny could certainly categorized beneficiary situation going bathroom thus seems plausible referentially link empty subject infinitive complement similarly sentence like 3 john asked paula assigned task seems involve control switch e switch object control subject control case passive construction overtly signals empty subject agent therefore implausible assume coreference empty subject matrix object john empty subject potential beneficiaries well beneficiaries sense case grammar thetarole theory sense speech act semantics seems work principle role identity worked detail recent article written klaus michael koepcke folia linguistica 27 57105 cognitive approach obligatory control phenomena english german roles understood sense case grammar pragmatic roles also point interesting differences control english german example sentences like 4 der polizist bat den saal zu verlassen literally policeman asked leave room interpeted involving implicit controller e addresse set addressees lexicalized related issues also discussed recent book kontrollph e4nomene im englischen und deutschen aus semantischpragmatischer perspektive published gunter narr verlag tuebingen way koepcke found native speaker intuitions matters really unreliable linguists think serious ways testing possible language klaus panther university hamburg germany