_{Syntactic Theory}

The Predicative Complement

Test for identifying predicative complements in English

• A predicative complement follows a 'linking verb' (copula verb)
  ** This is [a good idea]_pred.comp.
  • Pat will always remain a good friend.
  • The committee elected John [chairman]_pred.comp.
  • Pat considered Kim [a genius]_pred.comp.
• Passivization: A predicative complement cannot be passivized:
  *A genius was considered Kim by Pat. (compare with passivization of the direct object: Kim was considered a genius by Pat.)

Categories and structural position

• The predicative complement can be any major phrase (NP, AP, PP, VP)
• The predicative complement is a sister to V and a daughter to VP.
• If there is a direct object, the predicative complement follows the direct object.

              _S_
             /   \
            /     AuxP
           /     /    \
        subj    /   __VP___
         /     /   /       \
        /     /   /        pred.comp
       /     /   /           \
     NP   Aux   V      _______NP________
    /__\   |    |     /_________________\
    Pat  will become  president of the US.

Read further on other grammatical functions:

• The Predicate
• The Subject
• The Direct Object
• The Indirect Object
• The Oblique Complement
• The Modifier

Categories: Glossary