CP complements of <i>er</i>-nominalisations in English

Er -nominalisations which take CP complements are rare in English, but possible. A common construction involving one is to be a firm believer that…. I propose that the behaviour of CP-taking er (‘CoPTErs’) results from tension. On hand, they Argument Structure Nominals sense Grimshaw (1990), and ‘inherit’ argument-taking properties their parent verb. So if verb believe can argument, corresponding -nominalisation should able argument too. other nouns. And since Stowell (1981), long line work has argued noun simply cannot as an argument. argue this tension usually fatal, why CoPTErs fairly unacceptable when placed positions. It's only used predicate nouns become acceptable – even then, does not pattern like true noun. sketch possible analysis, complement CoPTEr adjoins predication binds variable (of category D) CoPTEr's position.