object arguments, whereas the raising-to-object verbs do not. Instead, the object of the raising verb appears to have "risen" from the subject position of the embedded predicate, in this case from the embedded predicates to read and to have said. In other words, the embedded predicate is semantically selecting the argument of the matrix predicate. What this means is that while a raising-to-object verb takes an object dependent, that dependent is not a semantic argument of that raising verb. The distinction becomes apparent when one considers that a control predicate like ask requires its object to be an animate entity, whereas a raising-to-object predicate like expects places no semantic limitations on its object dependent. Diagnostic Tests Expletives The different predicate types can be identified using expletive there. Expletive there can appear as the "object" of a raising-to-object predicate, but not of a control verb, e.g. a. *Fred asked there to be a party. - Expletive there cannot appear as the object of a control predicate. b. Fred expects there to be a party. - Expletive there can appear as the object of a raising-to-object predicate. a. *Jim forced there to be a party. - Expletive there cannot appear as the object of a control predicate. b. Jim believes there to have been a party. - Expletive there can appear as the object of a raising-to-object predicate. The control predicates cannot take expletive there because there does not fulfill the semantic requirements of the control predicates. Since the raising-to-object predicates do not select their objects, they can easily take expletive there. Idioms Control and raising also differ in how they behave with idiomatic expressions. Idiomatic expressions retain their meaning in a raising construction, but they lose it when they are arguments of a control verb. See the examples below featuring the idiom "The cat is out of the bag", which has the meaning that facts that were previously hidden are now revealed. a. The cat wants to be out of the bag. - There is no possible idiomatic interpretation in the control construction. b. The cat seems to be out of the bag. - The idiomatic interpretation is retained in the raising construction. The explanation for this fact is that raising predicates do not semantically select their arguments, and therefore their arguments are not interpreted compositionally, as the subject or object of the raising predicate. Arguments of the control predicate, on