Abstract
The aim of this paper is to present a new syntactic analysis of the infinitival clause in OE, describing the historical development of tough constructions. In OE, the derivation of tough constructions involves NP movement. However, this does not mean that tough constructions were derived by passivization. Rather, it indicates that the null-NP movement to [Spec, vP] is involved in the derivation, and that the infinitival clause in OE is a bare vP. If this analysis is on the right track, we can explain a wide range of phenomena that are generally observed in the history of infinitival clauses.
