Editing Movement paradox (section)

== A fourth type of movement paradox ==
Movement paradoxes are present in other languages as well. The so-called ''long passive'' in German presents a movement paradox that revolves around competing case forms, e.g.<ref>The examples of the long passive here are similar to those discussed by Groß and Osborne (2009:56ff.).</ref>

::{| 
|- 
| a.  
| Gestern 
| wurde
| versucht,
| den
| Wagen
| zu reparieren.
|
|- 
|
| yesterday
| was
| tried
| the-'''ACC'''
| car
| to repair
| 'One attempted to fix the car yesterday.'
|-
|}  

::{| 
|- 
| b.  
| *Den 
| Wagen
| wurde
| gestern
| versucht
| zu reparieren.
|
|- 
|
| the-'''ACC'''
| car
| was
| yesterday
| tried 
| to repair
| 'One attempted to fix the car yesterday.'
|-
|}

::{| 
|- 
| c.  
| Der 
| Wagen
| wurde
| gestern
| versucht
| zu reparieren.
|
|- 
|
| the-'''NOM'''
| car
| was
| yesterday
| tried 
| to repair
| 'One attempted to fix the car yesterday.'
|-
|}

On the assumption that the noun phrase ''den Wagen'' is in its base position in the a-sentence, this noun phrase must be in a derived position in the other two sentences. The problem is evident in the competing case forms of the determiner (''den'' vs. ''der''). In the derived position at the front of the sentence, the determiner must appear in the nominative (''der'', not ''den''), whereas when this noun phrase appears in its base position, the accusative of the determiner must appear (''den'', not ''der''). The paradox is evident in the necessity that a change in case form accompany movement.