Let us [...] distinguish two classes of arguments: "true arguments" with potentially referential function - apart from conceptual constraints (e.g., those that may bar thinking rocks) there may be elements of D that they take as values or denotata - and "quasi arguments" that lack any such function as a matter of grammatical principle. Let us assume, correspondingly, that one of the possible θ-role is that of quasi-argument. The pronoun "it" can be a true argument ("it is on the table"), a quasi-argument ("it is raining"), or a non-argument ("it seems that John is here").
- Chomsky (1993), a pag.325