English Language & Usage Asked on July 11, 2021
I’m confused about this sentence construction:
Mistakes are likely to happen.
I’ve thought of three possible explanations; are any of them
correct?
Where likely is an adjective acting as a subject complement,
then to happen acts as some type of adverb modifying likely?
(But I don’t know what that type would be if so.)
To happen acts as a subject complement, and likely as
an adverb of the finite verb (are) or the non-finite verb (to
happen).
There is an ellipsis of outcomes between them: mistakes
are likely (outcomes) to happen where likely and to happen
both are adjectives modifying ellipsis (outcomes), and
to happen is a reduced relative clause of that might/could
happen.
As pointed out in comments, (be) likely is a Raising predicate. That means that the noun phrase subject of be likely with a following infinitive complement is not really the subject of likely, but of the following infinitive clause.
It's been "Raised" up from its position as infinitive subject to a role in the clause the infinitive is part of. Since likely is intransitive, it only has a subject, not an object. So the underlying structure is something like
where the subject of is likely is the whole infinitive clause for mistakes to happen.
English doesn't like this kind of sentence, with long complex subjects and short verbs occurring at the end. There are a number of transformations (like Extraposition and Subject Raising) that have the effect of moving heavy subjects to the end of the sentence, producing distinctive structures. Both are possible with this sentence:
Raised subjects of infinitives don't use for, which otherwise marks the subject of the infinitive, while it's still the subject. The for is optional with some verbs, disallowed with others, and required when the infinitive clause is subject.
This is the kind of Subject-Raising called the A configuration, or A-Raising.
There is also B-Raising, as in
where the Raised subject becomes the object of a transitive upstairs predicate like expect, instead of the subject of an intransitive predicate like likely.
There is a vast literature on Subject-Raising, starting with Postal's book On Raising. Here's a collection of handouts and exercises with answers on the contrast between Raising predicates and their converse, which are called Equi predicates after the rule they govern.
Correct answer by John Lawler on July 11, 2021
The Be (auxiliary verb) used with the infinitive with to to express futurity, arrangement in advance, or obligation. in this case it conveys "not surprising and be foreseen" meaning.
Mistakes are likely to happen = Subject + be +adverb + to Verb
likely is adverb that used for expressing emphasis
You can also remove "likely" or use "will" instead of "be + to + verb" but still same meaning:
Mistakes are to happen
Mistakes will happen
Answered by ZikZak on July 11, 2021
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