and the 7th International Spring Forum of the English Linguistic Society of Japan held at Doshisha University. My deepest appreciation goes to Nobuaki Nishioka whose comments and suggestions were of inestimable value for my study. I would also like to express my gratitude to Stephen Laker for his kind help in proofreading and useful comments. Special thanks are due to two anonymous reviewers, who raised a number of questions and provided numerous suggestions. I am also indebted to Hiroyoshi Tanaka, Christopher P. Carman, Kento Nagatsugu, and the audience at the conferences for valuable suggestions. The responsibility for any errors is of course mine.