Tensed-S condition

The Tensed-S condition is a condition proposed in Noam Chomsky which essentially stipulates that certain classes of syntactic transformational rules cannot apply across clause boundaries. The condition is formalised as follows:
Tensed-S condition
"No rule can involve X, Y in the structure
... X... ...
where α is a tensed sentence."
The rule accounts for such phenomena as the lack of passivization in sentence below:
Based on the assumption that "The footballers" originates inside the square brackets in both sentences, the TSC prohibits its raising out of the finite clause in, but not the non-finite clause in.
The TSC also has implications for binding theory in conjunction with a simple rule of disjoint reference. The disjoint reference rule can apply in examples like and below, but is blocked from applying by the TSC in sentences and – where there are clause boundaries – thereby allowing the pronoun to refer back to the antecedent.
The way the TSC accounted for binding as well as movement phenomena, was influential for much subsequent research which tried to reduce binding and movement to the same set of principles. The subsequent binding conditions A and B of Chomsky essentially replaced the TSC, and it is no longer a part of the toolkit of current researchers.