Abstract
In the literature, there are already some very insightful and substantial discussions on the argument structure of flip-flop sentences, as well as the semantics and pragmatics of their capacity interpretations. It is shown that the flip sentence can be paraphrased by spelling out a capacity modal gou ‘enough’, and that there is an alternative pattern where the main verb is placed at the end of the sentence. This suggests that the flip construal actually involves verb movement to a silent modal ENO. We also conclude that the verb raising in question applies at PF, contributing to the recent debates on the theoretical status of head movement. As for the flop sentence, it lacks the capacity reading, but still can be analyzed in terms of deontic modal construals, where the verb-to-modal raising is obligatory. In this way we not only spell out the hidden argument structure of flip-flop sentences, but also solve the mystery of their verb placement.