Verb patterns

Verb patternsIn order to continue analysing structures in detail, it is mandatory to revise some concepts which are key to understanding syntax.

What is a complement?

A complement is an obligatory constituent in the sentence,required by the head of a phrase. They cannot be ommitted. There are complements of various types, but the most common (and the ones we need to attend to) are:

the Direct Object (DO): a noun or noun equivalent (i.e. a pronoun or a gerund( youll see the analysis of ing forms in the following course). It can be replaced by an objective pronoun (it, him, her, them, etc.). It can be tested through a wh.question qith who with Subject Auxiliary Inversion (SAI). Semantically speaking, it is the recipient or sufferer of the action. When the sentence is turned into the passive voice, it becomes the subject. Remember that in Spanish the replacement can be done with the pronouns lo, la, los, las which can help you too. It occurs with transitive verbs (see later) The Indirect Object (IO): a noun or noun equivalent which is the person or thing who/which receives the object. e.g. she gave me the ball. (the one who receives the ball is me so that is the indirect object). Remember that in Spanish the replacement can be done with the pronoun le or les. It occurs with ditransitive verbs (see later). The Subjective Complement (SC, in Spanish, Predicativo Subjetivo Obligatorio): most commonly, a noun phrase, an adjectival phrase or a prepositional phrase that predicates properties of the subject of the sentence. E.g. Mary is a teacher. (A teacher is a property of Mary, so A teacher is the subjective complement). It occurs with copula or inchoative verbs (see later).

The Objective Complement (OC; in Spanish, Predicativo Objetivo): most commonly a noun phrase or an adjectival phrase that predicates properties of the direct object of the sentence. Consider: They consider Mary stupid. (Stupid is predicating properties of Mary, not They). It occurs with complex transitive verbs. (see later) The Adverbial Complement: it is an adverbial phrase or a prepositional phrase indicating time,place, etc. It occurs with both transitive or intransitive verbs when the meaning of the verb is incomplete without its occurrence. Consider: We go to the theatre. (Go is an intransitive verb since it needs no direct object, but needs another type of complement: we always go to a place,so this is an adverbial complement). Another example is that of the verb put: He put it in the oven. (put is a transitive verb since it needs the object it, but the idea is still incomplete if the place where the object is actually put is not there; therefore, it needs the adverbial to complete its meaning).

Other complements that do not complete the verb are: The Prepositional Complement: it is a noun phrase which follows the head preposition of a prepositional phrase. It is obligatory since, without it, the preposition doesnt have a complete meaning. The Adjectival Complement: it is a prepositional phrase which follows the head adjective of an adjectival phrase. It is obligatory since, without it, the adjective doesnt have a complete meaning. E.g. She is fond of music. (of music is part of an adjectival phrase, where:

SheisfondOf Music

H/ PronounH/ N

Subject/ NPH/ PPrep. C/ NP

H/AAdjectival Complement/ PP

H/VSC/AP

Predicate /VP

It is important to be able to distinguish between those elements in the sentence which are required by the heads or not. Elements which are never required by the head are called Adjuncts, which are also part of the verb phrase. They give additional information about the verb, e.g. they indicate place, time, reason, condition, etc.

There are various types:

Adverbial Adjuncts

They indicate when, how, why, who with, where the action is made. In Spanish, they are called circunstanciales. E.g.: Mary walked slowly (slowly represents the way in which Mary walks, therefore slowly is an adverbial adjunct of manner).

Sentence Adjuncts: They are the so-called connectors, i.e. words which connect two sentences (not two clauses), e.g. however, to tell the truth. There are two types:

Conjuncts: They are connectors which connect two ideas, adding, contrasting or giving priority to a particular sentence. E.g. firstly, however, besides.

Disjuncts: They are connectors which express the point of view or emotions of the speaker. E.g. honestly, surprisingly enough, to my disappointment. Predicative Adjuncts: They are elements which are not required by the verb, but they are different from the adverbial adjuncts in that they predicate properties of the subject (similar to the subjective complement). The difference is that the predicative adjunct is not compulsory, whereas the subjective complement is. Consider: they painted the door green. Green is not obligatory since it gives additional information, but it does not describe the way in which the door was painted, but the colour that the door received. Therefore, it cannot be considered an adverbial adjunct, but a predicative adjunct since green predicates properties of the door.

Therefore, it is important to know what type of verb pattern we are faced with: if it requires a complement or not, thereby taking a particular type of adjunct.

Activity

Are the following complements or adjuncts? If you dare, can you say what type of complements or adjuncts they are?1) He drank till midnight.

2) She wrote a story.

3) I have a car.

4) He gave me a doll yesterday.

5) Surprisingly enough, he came to my house.6) He seemed a nice boy.

7) She is my sister.

8) The party is in my house tonight.

9) He put the book on the shelf to make me angry.

10) She went completely mad because of his call.

11) They consider her lazy.

12) They are considering the offer.

13) He coloured the picture yellow.In any case, if you havent been able to spot what kind of complement they are, we are going to analyse each case in detail. In order to do so, we need to pay special attention to a syntactic classification of verbs:

Transitive verbs

These verbs require an object to complete their meaning. This object is a complement (see DO above). In order to show that we are faced with a verb of this type, we can subject the verb to different constituency tests:1) The object must always be a noun or noun equivalent.

2) The object can be replaced by an objective pronoun (it, him, her).

3) The object can be tested thorugh a wh question with SAI (what did he do, what did she drink). 4) Transtitive verbs allow passivization, a process in which the object becomes the subject of the new sentence.

Consider:

She invented a game. ( the game is a noun or noun equivalent (a noun phrase, in fact) / it can be replaced by the pronoun it/ it can be testesd through the question: what did she invent?/ / it allows passivization: The game was invented by her.

Note:

There are verbs which cannot be passivized but can undergo all the other constituency tests. These are called middle verbs. Examples are: have, lack, suit, fit, resemble and marry*.

I have a car. ( Constituency tests:

I have it.

What do I have?

A car is had by meCan you do the constituency tests for the rest of the examples of middle verbs?

I lack knowledge on the subject( Constituency tests: Objective Pronoun

SAI

Passivization

These shoes dont fit Susan(This dress doesnt suit William(I resemble my mum(Monique married John(The priest married John and Mary(Intransitive verbs

They are verbs which do not require an object to complete their meaning. However, they may require an adverbial complement (in some cases). Intransitive verbs can be intransitive in some contexts and transitive (i.e. require an object) in some others. There are different types:

a. pure intransitive verbs: verbs that never require an object for their complete predication.

e.g. He laughed a lot. Lets try to check whether a lot can be a direct object and in order todo so, we shall subject it to the different constituency tests we saw above: He went to that house. A lot cannot be replaced by an objective pronoun. He laughed it????

A SAI question with what wouldnt make much sense: What did he laugh?

In this case, laugh is purely intranstive, but what is a lot indicating??? Since its not a complement, it must be an ............................b. There are verbs which are pseudo intransitive, i.e. they can be instransitive or transitive depending on the context.

e.g.: eat, smoke, drink, study, He is eating but He is eating an apple

She smokes but She smokes Marlboro cigarrettes.

Activity

Think of sentences where the two other verbs drink and study can be transitive or intransitive.

Ditransitive verbs

As the name says so, these verbs require two objects. In general, these verbs are of twi types:

a) verbs of giving: show, send, hand, pass, find, lend, throw, give, bring, take.

b) verbs of communication: inform, tell, ask, offer, invite, explain, say, suggest. Consider:

She bought me a sweet

Both me and sweet are objects. They are complements too. However, they are of different types. Read above and search for the different types of complement. There you will find the definition of both DO and IO. Which of the two belong to which type?

How do we know if we are faced with a ditransitive verb?

With some verbs, the IO can be replaced with a PP starting with to or for. E.g. She bought the sweet for me. Or She gave the book to me.

(Try to reflect on the difference of meaning between to and for).

With some other verbs, it is impossible to replace it, such as:

He told me the truth( He told the truth to meWith some others, the to formula is obligatory, such as:

She explained some grammar to me. ( She explained me some grammar In general, there are two ways of turning the sentence into the passive voice. Consider:

He told me the truth.

The truth was told to me (by him)

I was told the truth (by him).

Copula(r), Copulative or Linking verbs

As you have looked up information on these, I will ask you some questions about them:

1) Do these verbs require a complement?

2) Bo they have a complete meaning?

3) What do they generally indicate?

4) What verbs are copulative in general? Provide examples.

5) Look at the complements above and see whether there is any of them which may be required by a Copula verb.

( Inchoative verbs

You were also supposed to read about these too, so here are some activities to put that information into practice:

1) What do these verbs denote?

2) Can you give examples of them?

3) Do they require a complement or not?

4) If they do, what type of complement is it? What does it predicate about?

5) Can you give examples of them?

Complex transitive verbs

These verbs are transitive indeed, but why are they called complex? Actually, they require a direct object, but this DO must always be accompanied by an extra element.

They appointed him chairman. ( Him is the DO, but chairman is predicating properties about him. What type of complement do you think it is, then?

In order to help out, I will analyse the first sentence of the first activity above. Try and do the rest at home.

HeDranktillMidnight

H/ N

H/ PPrep.Comp/ NP

H/ PronounH/VAa (time) / PP

Subject/ NPPredicate/ VP

Wh questions with what or who can be subjected or not to Subject Auxiliary Inversion, but in each case, they have completely different meanings. Consider: What jumps, lives in Australia and has a baby in its pouch? Here there is no subject auxiliary inversion and the answer to this would probably be The kangaroo jumps, lives in Australia, etc, where the kangaroo is functioning as the subject of the sentence. If we make a what question with no SAI we are, therefore, testing the subject. However if we ask a question with SAI, we are pointing to its object. Consider: The kangaroo eats fruit. If we go by SAI, the question can be: What does the kangaroo eat? The answer is definitely going to be fruit, thereby showing that what questions with SAI point to the DO of the verb.