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In linguistics, argument control refers to syntactic principles that allow the semantic identity of a verb's argument to be determined even though it is not syntactically realized in the sentence. The most typical instance of argument control involves the unrealized subject of the non-finite verbal complement of a raising or control 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.

[edit] See also

• Raising