----------------------------------------------------------------

 All the sentences in the test suite that use the verb "read"
 intransitively did not parse because the verb was entered in the
 lexicon only as a transitive. The intransitive was added.

You might want to treat this as indefinite null instantiation.

 idy_paal := clause-embedding-verb-lex &
  [ STEM < "idy:PAAL" >,
    INFLECTED -,
    SYNSEM.LOCAL.CAT.HEAD.VERB-PRESENT-TENSE-SG-F-SUFFIX-TYPE t-suffix,
    SYNSEM.LKEYS.KEYREL.PRED "_know_v_rel" ].

Can't you move [ INFLECTED - ] up to some type?

Your grammar currently isn't generating from sentences over about 3
words long.  You probably want to make sure it can before the MT extravaganza.
I suspect that it's a combination of lots of legitimate variation (e.g.
in word order) and lots that isn't --- you'll want to increase the
limit on edges in the gen chart, and then see if you can cut out any
spurious strings.

