In linguistics, argument control refers to grammatical principles that allow the semantic identity of a verb's argument to be determined even though this argument is not realized phonologically within the syntactic projection of the verb. The most typical instance of argument control involves the unrealized subject of the non-finite verbal complement of a raising or control verb. The unrealized subject is typically interpreted as coreferent with either the subject or the object of the main verb. For example, in the following sentence, the control verb tried selects a participial complement calling me yesterday:
- Bill tried [calling me yesterday].
The subject of calling is not overtly expressed. However, the verb tried requires that its subject and the unrealized subject of its verbal complement be coreferent. In other words, the subject of tried controls the subject of calling: Bill is understood to be the "caller" as well as the "tryer" in this sentence. In other examples, the identity of the unrealized argument is not determined by the grammatical structure of the sentence. In the following examples, the missing subject of the non-finite verb phrases is interpreted generically, by so-called arbitrary control:
- [Seeing] is [believing].
- It is better [to have loved and lost] than [never to have loved at all].
