Event plurality & quantifier scope across clause boundaries

Abstract

Legend has it that quantifiers cannot scope out of finite clauses. But while
islands for quantifier raising might exist, finite clauses are not that: We identify
a novel environment which productively facilitates scoping universal quantifiers
out of embedded clauses, involving the manipulation of event structure. With the
help of the perfect on an embedding verb and certain adverbials that presuppose a
buildup towards a result state (by noon, eventually, at long last), embedded universal
quantifiers can more readily take extrawide scope. We describe, account for, and
discuss restrictions to this effect, and conclude that scoping quantifiers out of finite
clauses is not banned by syntactic constraints, although context or processing might
favor narrow scope readings.