subcategorize

subcategorize

English

Etymology

sub- +‎ categorize

Verb

subcategorize (third-person singular simple present subcategorizes, present participle subcategorizing, simple past and past participle subcategorized)

1. (transitive) To categorize more specifically by placing in a subcategory.
2. (grammar) To practice subcategorization.
   • 1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 8, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 421:

     As we see from the examples in (55):
     (55) (a)      John will put [_NP the car] [_PP in the garage]
     (55) (b)     ^✽John will put [_NP the car]
     (55) (c)     ^✽John will put [_PP in the garage]
     (55) (d)     ^✽John will put
     the Verb put subcategorizes (i.e. ‘takesʼ) obligatory NP and PP complements (to simplify exposition here, we ignore the fact that the subcategorization properties of put may be predictable from its thematic properties, and from general word-order principles such as the STRICT ADJACENCY CONDITION).