Control, Raising, and Impersonal Predicates

In “Petar promised to leave,” Petar both promises and supplies the understood subject of “leave”: that is control. In “It seems that Petar left,” Petar is only a participant in leaving, not in seeming: that is a raising-like relation. Serbian often expresses the second pattern with an impersonal matrix predicate plus a finite да clause, rather than imitating English Petar seems to....

These labels describe dependencies, not visible endings. The most useful diagnostics are who receives a semantic role from the matrix predicate, whether the lower subject may differ, and where agreement appears.

Subject Control: the Matrix Subject Supplies the Missing Actor

With a subject-control verb such as обећати “promise,” the matrix subject is the promiser and is normally understood as the actor of the complement when that actor is not expressed.

Bracket it as [Петар је обећао Ани [да ће Ø послати извештај]]. The omitted lower subject Ø is interpreted as Петар, not as the nearby dative Ани. Matrix masculine singular обећао agrees with Петар; embedded Future I ће послати has an unexpressed third-person singular subject controlled by Petar.

An infinitive makes the same-subject dependency especially compact:

The infinitive carries no person agreement, so its actor is recovered from the controlling matrix subject. The да alternative is more common in much contemporary Serbian conversation; the infinitive remains standard where the predicate licenses it.

Not every да complement is controlled. A propositional predicate can introduce an overt independent subject:

Now Јелена is the embedded nominative subject. Neither matrix argument controls it. The complement type looks similar on the surface, so meaning and lexical selection matter.

Object Control: a Matrix Object Supplies the Actor

Directive and persuasive predicates often select an addressee or affected object and require that participant to perform the embedded action.

The brackets are [Ана је замолила Петра [да Ø затвори прозор]]. Accusative Петра is the person asked and the understood subject of затвори. Feminine замолила still agrees with nominative Ана; the accusative object does not control matrix agreement.

Accusative ауторку controls the interpretation of the omitted embedded subject. Serbian case marking keeps the roles clear even if discourse moves the object:

Fronting ауторку creates contrast but does not make it the nominative subject. The matrix controller of agreement remains уредник; the controller of the lower understood subject remains the accusative object ауторку.

English freely uses ask/persuade someone to do something. Serbian very commonly uses да + present in these object-control frames. Infinitival counterparts are also documented—especially in more concise written usage and for some speakers—but their availability varies by predicate and variety. An English infinitive is therefore not a signal to insert one mechanically.

Raising-like Predicates: No Matrix Actor to Control

With изгледати “seem/appear” and чинити се “seem,” the apparent event is a proposition. The matrix predicate does not assign Petar a role analogous to “promiser” or “persuaded person.” Neutral Serbian therefore readily leaves the matrix clause impersonal.

The structure is [изгледа [да је Петар заборавио...]]. Петар belongs inside the finite complement and controls је заборавио there. Matrix изгледа remains third-person singular.

Plural цене controls embedded су порасле, not impersonal чини се. Serbian need not manufacture an English-style raised subject before “seem.” The order Да су цене поново порасле, чини се is possible only with marked discourse packaging; it does not alter which clause contains the agreement relation.

Modal требати provides a well-known zone of variation. A dependable careful-standard baseline is impersonal треба / требало би with person expressed in the complement:

Current syntactic research analyzes important uses of требати as raising-like, and personal agreement is genuinely attested in some subject-first and relative structures. The guide's dedicated trebati reference explains the editorial default and legitimate variation; this is not a case for declaring every personal form universally wrong.

Dative Experiencers Are Not Nominative Subjects

Serbian impersonal predicates often encode the experiencer in the dative. The state itself remains grammatically impersonal, normally with third-person singular present or neuter singular past.

The dative forms мени, Ани, Марку name experiencers. They do not trigger person, number, or gender agreement on спава, је хладно, није се ишло. Past ишло is neuter singular because the construction has no nominative subject.

A dative can also accompany a raising-like judgment:

Мени is the experiencer of seeming; embedded nominative овај закључак controls не следи. Linear closeness never turns мени into a nominative controller.

A Compact Diagnostic Table

These are practical diagnostics, not a claim that every theoretical analysis is uncontested. In particular, the boundary between control, raising, and finite complementation is an active research area.

An Edited Passage

Јелена controls the omitted actor after обећала; accusative Марка controls the actor of отвори. Impersonal чинило се takes a finite proposition whose plural subject is два рачуна, while dative Јелени is the experiencer of било јасно.

Practice Tasks

Task 1: Find the understood subject

Bracket the complements in Мира је обећала Ивану да ће позвати клијента and Мира је замолила Ивана да позове клијента. Explain why the omitted embedded subject refers to a different matrix argument in each sentence.

Task 2: Remove the English raising frame

Translate “The results seem to be reliable” with impersonal чини се plus a finite да clause. Mark the embedded nominative subject and its agreement.

Common Mistakes

Dropping да but keeping a finite form

Letting the matrix object control matrix agreement

Giving a dative experiencer personal agreement

Calquing English “X seems to...”

Key Takeaways

• A controller receives a role from the matrix predicate and supplies an understood lower subject.
• Subject-control and object-control verbs select different matrix arguments as that lower actor.
• Raising-like predicates readily appear impersonally in Serbian, with the semantic subject inside да.
• Dative experiencers are prominent participants, not nominative agreement controllers.