SYNTAX

Structures of complementation

Structures of complementation are the structures which have two components or immediate constituents, those are a verbal element and a complement.
The verbal element may be a simple verb, structure that has a verb in key position such as : a verb-phrase, an infinitive and a structure of modification with verb as head.
Simple verb : (he) gives  the lessons
          (a man)   hoeing  corn
Verb-phrase : (we) are  learning  grammar
                         Having told   the story
Infinitive :       (a boy)   to run  errands
                         (a day)   to be   thankful for
Structure of
modification :   (I)   never in my life said   that
                          (this)   was in the long run   a mistake
Structure of
coordination :    (we)   caught and ate    the fish
                           (the world)   will little note nor long remember

The various types of verbal elements are divided into three main groups : linking verbs, intransitive verbs, and transitive verbs.

1). Linking verbs. 
Linking verbs are thought of as a structural link between subject and complement. They never been occurred without a complement. The most common and typical member of the group is be ( as a full verb, not an auxiliary ). In fact, substitution of be can be inserted into structures of complementation in place of another verb without making a major change in the structural meaning, the original verb is a linking verb.
A farther formal test is that linking verb have no passive forms such as in the following verb-phrase : is remained, was seemed and is been do not occur in standard English, and some linking verbs have homonyms which do have passive form, as in the alarm was sounded.

2). Intransitive verbs 
Verbs which may appear in the active voice as complete predicate without any complement. They cannot appear as verbal elements of structures of complementation since they have no complement. They have no passive form and of course be modified in various ways.
The machine   is running
The rain   stopped
The sun    sinks    in the west
The curtain    rose   slowly on the scene
3). Transitive verb
Verbs which always have a complement when in the active voice, and which have passive forms.
The man   sold   his car
The wind    blew down   the house
The transitive active form sold and blew down may be replaced by was sold and was blown down. Requiring that the complements his car and the house be shifted to subject :
The car   was sold    (by the man)
The house    was blown down    (by the wind)
Many transitive verbs have homonyms which are intransitive or linking. It is therefore necessary to observe a verb in a grammatical context before it can be classified. Thus, verbs such as turn, blow, and sound belong to all classes :
Linking :         The weather turned cold
           The wind blew a gale
                        The music sounded loud
Intransitive :   The earth turns
                        The wind is blowing
                        The fire alarm sounded
Transitive :  The car turned the corner
                     The musician blew the trumpet
                     The watch man sounds the alarm

The formal distinctions between these three types of verb may be summarized as follows :
(1) linking verb  : has complement but no passive
(2) intransitive verb : has neither complement nor passive
(3) transitive verb : has both complement and passive.

3).Subjective complement
Subjective complements may be single word, with or without related function word, or they may be structures of varying degree of complexity, from relatively simple structures of modification or coordination to elaborate affairs, containing all short of structures within them.
Noun : the woman is   a nurse
Function noun : ripeness is   all
Adjective : the corn is   ripe
Adverb : the time is    now
Verb
infinitive : his  wish is   to die  
present participle : his trade is    writing
past participle : this meat is   canned
prepositional phrase : the train is   on time  



4).Direct object 
When the complement of a transitive verb consists of a single object, whether it be a single word or a complex structure, this object is called a direct object.
Noun   : he found    a friend
Pronoun : I saw    him
Function noun : we sent    several

Verb
Infinitive : they want   to go
Present participle : she likes   walking


5).Indirect object 
When the complement of a structure of complementation whose verbal element is transitive consists of two objects, one of them is always a direct object. The other is neither an indirect object or an objective complement. Structures of this sort are thus potentially  ambiguous.

  He        P             gave          C         his friend        two books          

Here, as the " Chinese boxes " indicate, we have a structure of predication with subject he and predicate gave his friend two book. This predicate is structure of complementation, with verbal element gave and complement his friend two books. Assuming (on the basis of the absence of a comma after friend) that intonation of this complement is /ﾲhiz fr￩ndﾲ|ﾲtw ﾳbksﾹ#/, not /ﾲhiz fr￩ndﾲ||ﾲtw ﾳbksﾹ#/. We know that we are not dealing with a structure of coordination or an appositive. Therefore, we recognize that the complement consists of two objects, his friend and two books.
Scrutiny of these object reveals that the first is a singular noun of substitute group4 (he/she-they) and the second a plural noun of substitute group3 (it-they).
Secondly we may observe that if we change the verb to the corresponding passive form, either of the two objects may be made subject, while the other remains as object. Thus, we may say either or his friend was given two books by him, two books were given his friend by him.
In the third place, we may farther note that instead of the first object his friend, we may use a prepositional phrase, to his friend, as modifier either of the verb gave or of the whole structure complementation gave two books. These two alternative can be diagramed :

a)        he           P          gave?    to         his friend            C          two books



b)        he          P               give       C    two   books                   to     his    friend



these three circumstances are the formal indications that in this particular complement, his friend two books, we are dealing with two objects, the first which is an indirect object and the second a direct object. We may state the identifying criteria of the indirect object as follows:
1) With active verbs it occurs only in company with a direct object, as a part of complex complement.
2) In such complement, it always comes before the direct object.
3) Its referent is different from that of the direct object.
4) When verbal elements appearing with such complements are changed to the passive voice, either object may be made subject.
5) An indirect object may be changed to a prepositional phrase witout major change in the total meaning of the structure.







6). Objective Complement
Certain complement consisting of two objects do not fit the indirect + direct object pattern which we have been discussing.

  We       p      elected   c     his brother        president


Assuming that the prosodic pattern of the last three words is  ( which eliminates the possibility that brother is a noun-adjunct modifier of president ) .we can see that complement consists of two object ,his brother and president . looking at these more closely we observe that though brother belong to subtitute-class i (he-they) and president to class 4 (he/she-they) they both may have the subsititute he and . hence the same referent funhermore.it we change the verb to the passive voice,only the fist object can be made subject .that is
His brother was elected president by us
President was elected his brother by us ' not
Not can we subsititute a prepositional phrase for the fist object can say
            We elected to his brother president
            We elected president for his brother
It is clear ,then  that we cannot call his brother an president object instead,the two parts of our complex complement are a direct object and objective complement in the order.

        Perhaps the simplest way to define an objective complement is by means of the negative method we have just employed . that is ,if a complement consisting of two objects does not meet the require-ments for the indirect-direct object structure ,its second object is an objective complement. This may be more positively stated as follow.




7). Objects with passive verbs.
A verbal element in the passive voice can have a complement, but it always consists of a single object. This may be any of the three kinds we have been discussing Direct object, indirect object or objective complement. The simplest test for identifying which it is to change the verb to the active voice. Consider the following :

a) He was given    a book

b) A book was given   him

c) He was elected   president

When the verbs of these structures are changed to the active voice, we have:
a) Gave him a   book

b) gave     him    a book

c) elected him  president

it is now apparent that a book in (a) is a direct object, him in (b) an indirect object, and president in (c) an objective complement.

ASSIGMMENT OF SYNTAX 

STRUCTURES OF COMPLEMENTATION 

Created by : 9th group

Gede Edi Gunawan 

Andry

Silvarius Siljabat  

Wisma Saputra 

Eru 

INSTITUTE OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION

FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITY EDUCATION ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT IKIP BUDI UTOMO MALANG

2012