Suggested answer for Exercise 3

Nominative Case is always assigned by finite inflection. Sometimes the I⁰ head is not occupied by any sound material, as in sentences (1a), (1c), (1g), (1h), (1i) and (1j). In other cases it is occupied by a modal auxiliary (modal auxiliaries are inherently finite) or by the verbs be, have or do (in which case it is still the zero inflectional morpheme that assigns case). In some cases like in sentence (1f), the I⁰ moves further to a higher position. In this case the Case is assigned by the trace of the auxiliary (it is assigned by the auxiliary before it moves). Sometimes DPs move further after receiving Case like the DP which experiment in sentence (1f). Here the chain receives Case only once, only the foot of the chain (the trace of the DP) is in a Case-marked position. Accusative Case is assigned by verbs and prepositions to their complement DPs. Some verbs and the complementiser for are able to assign accusative Case to the subject position of their complement IPs, as in sentences (1b), (1i) and (1j). Passive verbs are not able to assign case to their complement DPs, thus these DPs have to move in order to receive Case.