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Questions tagged [adjuncts]

An optional part of a sentence, clause, or phrase that, if removed, will not otherwise affect the remainder of the sentence.

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2 votes
1 answer
79 views

Do CP adjuncts of N require/have a subject?

"The cat that ate my homework for fun will upset my teacher." Hello! I created this sentence to help me understand the concept of EPP. Assume this is how the major components should be ...
3 votes
0 answers
28 views

Is an OBL argument in complement or adjunct position?

My syntax lecture materials on Arguementhood vs Adjuncthood explain that one difference between arguments and adjuncts lies in the participation in alternations: only arguments participate in ...
7 votes
0 answers
887 views

I'm confused by the term 'adjunct' as used in A Student's Introduction to English Grammar (2nd Edition 2022)

According to the authors of the book, adjuncts are divided into two kinds: modifiers, which are thoroughly integrated into the syntactic structure of clauses, and supplements, which are much more ...
2 votes
0 answers
46 views

Is there "adjunct indexation" in some languages?

The arguments of a verb may leave markers on the verb about the person and number features, which is commonly called as argument indexation. We know the distinction between arguments and adjuncts is ...
0 votes
0 answers
136 views

Syntax X Bar Tree - Complements & Adjuncts

I am having some trouble to identify Complements and Adjuncts. I have the following sentence: "A picture of the accident of Gabriel is saved on the album with a pink cover with the white dots&...
0 votes
1 answer
99 views

Can adjuncts modify nouns?

The Wikipedia page on adjuncts gives the example Yesterday, Lorna saw the dog in the garden. Notice that this example is ambiguous between whether the adjunct in the garden modifies the verb saw (in ...
4 votes
1 answer
2k views

How to treat adverbial phrases in X-bar theory

My question is about how to represent so-called adverbial phrases like "last night" or "all day". My confusion arises because there seems to be a consensus that these phrases are ...
1 vote
0 answers
80 views

Are these "phrases" or "clauses" before a noun a modifier adjective?

In these clauses or sentences "I love those "I love you" messages" or "I hate those "I love you" messages", Is this "phrase" or "clause", &...
1 vote
2 answers
154 views

Does the relative clause (which suggests...) here function as an adjunct of the whole clause in front of it?

The high notes returned to his compositions towards the end of his life, which suggests he was hearing the works that were taking shape in his imagination. I'm not sure how to write up the syntax ...
3 votes
1 answer
158 views

Semantic arguments of nouns

Consider the following NPs: [1] an alcohol ban [2] a cotton shirt Various discussions in CGEL would seem to imply the following: P: alcohol expresses a semantic argument of the head noun ban in [...
10 votes
4 answers
50k views

What is the difference between complements and adjuncts?

What is the difference between complements and adjuncts? I always have a problem drawing a tree diagram for the syntax structure of a sentence with placing complements with word level category and ...
1 vote
0 answers
100 views

"Peter sang a song to Julie", Is "to Julie" is an adjunct or complement?

Peter sang a song to Julie. It seems that the verb "sang" selects the preposition, but to Julie is optional. And if we apply it to an X' Schema, how shall we do it? To Julie is the dependent of sang ...
1 vote
0 answers
45 views

How to differentiate between adjuncts and complements? Specifically when the sentence has two prepositional phrases [duplicate]

When a sentence has 2 prepositional phrases, how I can determine whether the second prepositional phrase is a complement of the first prepositional phrase or it's an adjunct to the whole sentence? ...
0 votes
0 answers
90 views

Are there languages which have ways to distinguish between an adjunct noun and an adjective?

(Take some example). Do other languages (than English) have means distinguish between their adjunct nouns and adjectives or is it a very complex/grammatical structure that cannot possibly be ...
5 votes
1 answer
363 views

"He kept a black book in his desk." Is "in his desk" an adjunct or a complement?

The verb "keep" can be used with a direct object and a prepositional phrase, as in the following sentence: He kept a black book in his desk. What is the grammatical role of the PP "in his desk"? ...
1 vote
0 answers
234 views

Adjunct domain and Argument domain

I am attempting a problem with anaphora resolution. I need help with some terms in the Lappin and Leass' paper. In the paper, it is mentioned A pronoun P is non-coreferential with a (non-...
0 votes
1 answer
253 views

Does an adjunct really "modify" something?

In most grammars, an adjunct is differentiated from a complement in that the former modifies something whereas the latter complements something. But is it really the case that what an adjunct does is ...
-1 votes
1 answer
179 views

You fought so bravely for it. [adjunct vs. complement]

You fought so bravely for it. In this sentence, the verb 'fought' is followed by two dependents: so bravely and for it. I thought that for it was a complement whereas so bravely was an adjunct. But ...
0 votes
1 answer
2k views

complement vs adjunct

She's a teacher working at a public high school. Now, you can say either of these: (1) She teaches at a public high school. (2) She works at a public high school. Is the prepositional phrase "...
4 votes
1 answer
130 views

What's the name of the elements used to extend otherwise basic clauses?

Given the following sentence: "He wrote a love letter at night for his girlfriend". "He wrote a love letter" is the basic SVO clause, but what is the "at night" and "for his girlfriend" part called? ...
0 votes
2 answers
791 views

A Question About Complement and Adjunct

I am a student of English syntax and I have a question about complement and adjunct. In this phrase the strong influence of Latin upon English I would think that the PP 'of Latin' is an adjunct, ...
2 votes
2 answers
309 views

Which word is the head of the phrase "somewhere there"?

Robocop's catchphrase is somewhere there is a crime happening If the sentence was just a crime is happening it would be unproblematic for me: a crime would be a noun phrase in the function of a ...
4 votes
1 answer
347 views

Do nonfinite (adverbial) adjunct clauses have to be controlled?

Some examples of nonfinite adverbial clauses: Susan left me [without having said goodbye] [Being a trained boxer] Cathy always forces Mark to his knees with ease [Green with envy] John ...
-4 votes
1 answer
283 views

Adjunct vs disjunct [closed]

What is the difference between an adjunct and disjunct? How can I distinguish between the two? Please, I will be very thankful if you give me some examples.
2 votes
1 answer
553 views

Classification of adjuncts in preposition phrases

In the sentence "the mad cow jumped right over the moon", the adjunct 'right' modifies the preposition 'over' in the preposition phrase 'right over the moon'. As the adjunct 'mad' to 'cow' is an ...
2 votes
0 answers
144 views

Syntactic Tree help [closed]

Draw the syntactic tree for the deputy’s recent discovery of incriminating evidence; for full credit, you must put all specifiers, all complements, and all adjuncts in triangles & Draw the s-...
2 votes
2 answers
686 views

"He left the room angry" Is this a resultative adjunct?

He entered the room drunk. He left the room angry. I have heard that both drunk and angry are the examples of what is called resultative adjuncts. Is this correct? What does the term mean?