In three empirical studies, we compare one syntactic and one semantic approach to agreement preferences in so-called pancake constructions (pcs) in Swedish, as in Senap är starkt ‘Mustard is strong’. pcs are either substance-denoting, naming an inherent property of the subject, or situation-denoting, naming a property of the subject that is linked to some event. These two types were found to differ in predicative agreement patterns when their subjects were modified (e.g. Skånsk senap är … ‘Scanian mustard is’). The studies also indicate that the presence of a modal verb can affect agreement patterns differently in the two types: substance-denoting pcs were affected by modification and modality to a much larger extent than situation-denoting ones. We conclude that the two approaches can explain some patterns, but leave others unexplained, and the results lend partial support to analyses that make a syntactic difference between the two types of pcs.
