A CHARACTERISTIC PROPERTY OF CERTAIN TYPES OF SENTENCE EMBEDDING IN ENGLISH IS THE DELETION OF THE INITIAL NOUN PHRASE OF THE EMBEDDED SENTENCE WHEN THE NOUN PHRASE IS IDENTICAL TO SOME NOUN PHRASE IN THE MAIN SENTENCE. EXAMPLES OF THIS PHENOMENON ARE SENTENCES LIKE "JOHN CONDESCENDED TO GO" AND "JOHN DEFIED BILL TO GO." BECAUSE THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE RELEVANT NOUN PHRASE IN THE MAIN SENTENCE WITH RESPECT TO THE EMBEDDED SENTENCE VARIES, THE DELETION CANNOT EASILY BE SPECIFIED IN TERMS OF A SINGLE TRANSFORMATION. THE PRINCIPLE OF MINIMAL DISTANCE IS ADVANCED TO EXPLAIN NOUN PHRASE DELETION IN EMBEDDED SENTENCES AS A SINGLE SYNTACTIC PROCESS. (KL)