Raising verb
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In linguistics, a raising verb is a verb with an argument that is a verb and one or more arguments that are nouns, such that one of the noun arguments is semantically an argument not of the raising verb, but of the verb argument. For example, in "He seemed to do that," seemed is a raising verb, where its subject he is semantically the subject of to do rather than of seemed; for example, one might equally say, "It seemed that he did that," or perhaps "That seemed to be done by him." Not all languages have raising verbs; English is one that does.
Raising verbs are so called because they "raise" one of their arguments out of a more-embedded clause. In the example above, he is raised out of the do clause, which is embedded as an argument of the seemed clause. (Note that older grammars would classify "to do that" as a phrase rather than a clause; this does not affect the classification of raising verbs, however.)
[edit] Raising and control verbs
The term raising verb is sometimes generalized somewhat to include control verbs, which are much the same, except with a noun argument being semantically an argument both of the control verb and of the verb argument. For example, in "He tried to do that," tried is a control verb, where its subject he is semantically the subject both of tried and of to do. (Note that one cannot say, *"It tried that he did that," and that "That tried to be done by him" is syntactically well-formed but has a different, non-sensical meaning.)
As with many technical terms, both raising verb and control verb are used somewhat differently in different papers, partly because different linguistic theories may group verbs in somewhat different hierarchies.
[edit] Object- and subject-raising verbs
In English and many other languages, raising verbs may be classified as either subject-raising, meaning that it is their (syntactic) subject that is raised out of a more-embedded clause, or object-raising, meaning that it is their (syntactic) object that is. For example, seem is subject-raising (as seen above), while expect is object-raising: in "She expected him to do that," him is syntactically the direct object of expected, but semantically the subject of to do, and the sentence could be rewritten as, "She expected that he would do that." (That said, expect can also be subject-control, as in a sentence like "She expected to do that," where she is syntactically only the subject of expected, but semantically also the subject of to do. See control verb.)
Further, it is possible for the raised argument to be an object even in the more-embedded clause; for example, consider "He is easy to please," where he is syntactically the subject of is (easy) but semantically the object of to please. To allow for such verbs, a more general terminology is used, one that specifies both the syntactic argument type (relative to the raising verb) and the semantic argument type (relative to the verb argument). In this terminology, seem is subject-subject-raising, expect is object-subject-raising (at least in sentences like "She expected him to do that"), and is (easy) is subject-object-raising. Object-object-raising verbs also exist, as in a sentence like "I consider him easy to please," where him is syntactically the object of consider (easy), but semantically the object of to please, and the sentence could be rewritten as, "I consider it easy to please him."
