22. Verb Complementation. Complex-transitive and delexical

Some monotransitive verbs take direct objects that can be followed by object complements. These are complex transitive verbs. The direct object generally represents a person or thing, and the object complement adds information about it. This information can 1.describe a state or characteristic of the referent of the direct object. 2.identify it: They elected her Miss America. 3.express a role: His friends regard him as a genius at chess.

4. a circumstance or a situation in which the referent is said to be: / found her lying on the floor. 5. verbs of opinion: I imagined him much older. 6. verbs of declaring: They declared the bridge unsafe.

The verbs of appointing (such as appoint, christen, crown, designate, make, name, proclaim and term) introduce noun groups or prepositional groups as object complements denoting identity: The referee proclaimed him world champion. Situations as object complements are realized by non-finite forms of the verb describing some action or situation in which the object is involved. There are four such types of complex transitive verb complementation:

l. with to-infinitive after mental process verbs such as assume, believe, consider, understand, feel, imagine, know (with optional to): We believe John to be honest.

2. with bare infinitive after verbs of perception: see, hear, feel, notice, smell, watch: She saw them enter the shop.

3. with Participle I after verbs of perception: see, hear, feel, notice, smell, watch and verbs of finding or leaving: catch, come across, discover, find, leave: I can smell something burning. With verbs of perception we can make a distinction between a completed action, with the complement expressed by the bare infinitive, and an uncompleted action or action in progress, expressed by Participle I. Compare: We watched the house burn down and We watched the house burning.

4. with Participle II after causative verbs get and have; volitional verbs like, need, prefer, want; verbs of perception see, feel, hear, watch, and verbs of finding and leaving discover, find, leave: We'll have the computer repaired within a week.

Some monotransitive verbs can be followed by predicate complements, an obligatory constituent which cannot become subject in the passive and thus cannot be considered a direct object. These include relational verbs (have, lack, contain, fit, suit), verbs of measuring (measure, weigh, cost, take) and verbs of equal reciprocity (marry, resemble). She resembles her sister in character. * Her sister is resembled in character.

23. The predicate. Ditransitive and copular verbs.

The predicate is the verbal component of a sentence or clause which expresses a state, an action, or an event.

Ditransitive verbs take two objects, a direct object and an indirect one. These verbs denote actions which involve someone in addition to the people or things that are the subject and object of the sentence. This third participant is someone who benefits from the action or receives something as a result. They become the indirect beneficiary and indirect recipient objects. The direct object as usual is the person or thing that something is done to. The possible realizations of these two main complementation patterns can be summarized as follows:.

1. Indirect Object + Direct Object He gave Esther a present.

2. Object + Predicate Complement He wished me success.

Order of objects. The indirect object is put immediately after the verb group, in front of the direct object. He had lent Tim the money. Instead of putting the indirect object in front of the direct object, it is possible to put it in a prepositional phrase that comes after the direct object. Ralph passed a message to Jack. Here is a list of verbs which can have an indirect object introduced by to: accord, give, mail, quote, show, advance grant, offer, read, sing. I had lent my apartment to a friend for the weekend. If the action you are describing involves one person doing something which will benefit another person, you can use the preposition for to introduce the indirect object. Here is a list of verbs which can have an indirect object introduced by for: fetch, mix, save, find, order secure, fix, pain, set. There are some ditransitive verbs where the indirect object almost always comes in front of the direct object rather than being introduced by to or for. allow , bet, cost, envy, promise, ask.

COPULAR VERBS Copular verbs take one complement and serve as a link to what the referent'of the subject is or becomes. The complement of a copular verb is often called the subject complement and can be expressed by a noun phrase, or a prepositional phrase. The most common copular (link verb) is be. Other verbs used as copulas in English provide additional meaning to mere linking.

They may be sensory (look, feel, smell, sound, taste); situational, or current (remain, keep, seem, appear) or refer to a process of becoming or changing (become, get, grow, turn, prove, come, turn out, end up).

Verbs referring to a process of becoming or change of state (get, become, come, fall, go, grow, run, turn) usually occur in certain fixed idiomatic expressions. Get is normal with imperatives referring to a temporary personal condition, as in angry. Don't get excited. Become is normal with more abstract characteristics. He became ambitious. It gets dark early these days, doesn't it? The weather gradually became colder and colder, (more formal)

Idiomatic expressions with come include: The handle has come loose. The buttons on my coat came undone. His dream of winning a gold medal has come true. Fall denotes passing, especially suddenly or unintentionally, into a new state or condition. Go shows passing into a different, often less favorable state, either by a natural change or by changing on purpose.Her hair's going grey. The milk went sour. Grow means 'become gradually' (especially in a formal and literary style). She's growing fat. Run can be used to show developing or passing into the stated (usually undesirable) condition. Turn is used with adjectives of colour. His skin had turned / gone brown from the weeks he spent working in the sun.