Empathetic attitude reports

Abstract

This paper discusses a range of syntactic and semantic properties of what I call ‘empathetic attitude reports’, attitude reports which contain a direct or indirect object in addition to a clausal complement such as I believe you that you will come back and I understand you that you are not in the mood. The paper argues that empathetic attitude reports cannot be analyzed in terms of two-place attitudinal relations but involve an essential interpersonal relation of trust or understanding.