Reliance

A Protagonist needs a Means action performed for their Benefit. The relevant Means action is often evoked only by reference to an Intermediary who performs it. Also, if the Protagonist performs the Means action themselves, the Instrument that they use may be referred to in place of the Means Note that when one of the three interrelated FEs Means, Instrument and Intermediary is realized overtly, the other two are blocked from overt realization as clause-level arguments of the target. When the Protagonist is a sentient being, it is implied that they put their trust in the Intermediary to help in the achievement of the Benefit. The extent to which the Protagonist is dependent on an Intermediary or Instrument can be indicated in a Degree phrase. A set of Circumstances in which the Protagonist's need for the Benefit arises, may also be specified. The difference between the Benefit that the Means action provides and the Purpose that the Protagonist has is very subtle. For our purposes we will assume that one can form a predication from Benefit and Means on the one hand, and Protagonist and Purpose on the other, but that they cannot be intermingled (cf. examples (7) and (8) below). With for-PPs such as in (6) it is not clear which FE they instantiate, Benefit or Purpose. We will arbitrarily call them Benefit (1) I rely on you to see that my name is not sullied. (2) The system can rely entirely on coaxial cable or entirely on optical fibre, just as a tree and branch network can be based on either technology . (3) The Tories had got him into this and he relied on them to get him out. (4) I knew we could rely on you. DNI (5) To get the economy moving he will rely on repairing the infrastructure of America (6) Later , when the Northern Ireland Office was established , it relied heavily on it for the information on which it based security and political activities. (7) She would have to rely on his help to get through the fight in one piece. -- She got through the fight in one piece/*His help got through the fight in one piece (8) I rely on his help to get me through a long season -- His help got me through a long season/*I got me through a long season (9) We rely on your helping us (10) You can rely on him when the chips are down to inspire the troops