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6.3.Non-main verbs selecting a te-infinitive
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This section discusses non-main verbs that select a te-infinitive. In many grammars, this set of non-main verbs includes semi-aspectual verbs such as zittento sit in (148a) as well as modal verbs such as schijnento seem in (148b).

148
a. Jan zit dat boek te lezen.
  Jan sits that book to read
  'Jan is reading that book.'
b. Jan schijnt dat boek te lezen.
  Jan seems that book to read
  'Jan seems to read that book.'

The modal verbs are not included in this section, since they have the characteristic of main verbs: they are able to select arguments. This is clear not only from the fact that their infinitival complement can be pronominalized (cf. Dat schijnt), but also from the fact that they can select a finite complement clause, and are thus able to head their own clauses. For this reason, examples such as (148b) are discussed in Section 5.2.2 on main verbs selecting a te-infinitive.

149
Het schijnt [dat Jan dat boek leest].
  it seems that Jan that book reads
'It seems that Jan is reading that book.'

Our definition of main verbs as n-place predicates makes it relatively easy to determine whether we are dealing with a main or non-main verb in the examples in (148), but there are other cases that are more problematic in this respect; we will discuss these after we have discussed the semi-aspectual verbs in more detail.

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