181 the ball ADV gently V roll V' PP down the hill The different positions occupied by the adverb gently in (44) and (45) reflect a subtle meaning difference between (43a) and (43b): (43a) means that the action which initiated the rolling motion was gentle, whereas (43b) means that the rolling motion itself was gentle. A light-verb analysis also offers us an interesting account of adverb position in sentences like: (46)(a) (b) He had deliberately rolled the ball gently down the hill *He had gently rolled the ball deliberately down the hill Let’s suppose that deliberately (by virtue of its meaning) can.
