SYNTAX : COMPLEMENT, SPECIFIER, ATTRIBUTE, AND ADJUNCT

A. COMPLEMENT

In Oxford Dictionary, complement is something that goes well with something else making it complete. In other word, complement is an element which is needed to complete the meaning of the head. In grammar the term complement is used with different meanings. The primary meaning is a word, phrase, or clause which is necessary in a sentence to complete its meaning.

For examples:
a. The news on the Gulf War.
b. Angry with his sister.
c. Read the text

On the Gulf War, with his sister, and the text are the complements if the heads news, angry, and read respectively. A piece of news always tells about something, and in that example, it tells about the Gulf War. When somebody is angry, he is angry either with somebody or at something. In the example b, the anger is directed to his sister. Similarly, when someone reads, he has an object to read. In the example c, the object of reading is the text. A complement can be said to be a thing or person to whom the an action or state is directed.



Subject and Object Complement

A subject complement tells more about the subject by means of the verb. In the examples bellow the sentence elements are(SUBJECT+VERB+COMPLEMENT).

• Mr. Sholehudin is a teacher.
• She looks beautiful.

An object complement tells us more about the object by means of the verb. In the examples below, the sentence element are ( SUBJECT+VERB+OBJECT+ COMPLEMENT).

• We elected him chairman.
• We painted the house red.

An object complement can be a noun, pronoun, or adjective that follows and modifies a direct object. It can describe, clarify, re-name, or show completion of process.


B. ADJUNCT

Adjunct in Oxford Dictionary is adverb or phrase that adds meaning to the verb. In the other meaning, an adjunct is part of a sentence and modifies the Verb to show time, manner, place, frequency and degree. Certain parts of a sentence may convey information about how, when, or where something happened:

Examples:

• He ate his meal quickly (how)
• David gave blood last week (when)
• Susan went to school in New York (where)

In linguistics, an adjunct is an optional, or structurally dispensable, part of a sentence that, when removed, will not affect the remainder of the sentence. A more detailed definition of an adjunct is its attribute as a modifying form, word, or phrase which depends on another form, word, or phrase, being an element of clause structure with adverbial function.

A simple example of this is as follows:
The sentence: John killed Bill in Central Park on Sunday.
In this sentence:
• John is the Subject
• killed is the Predicator
• Bill is the Object
• in Central Park is the first Adjunct
• on Sunday is the second Adjunct

The following sentence uses adjuncts of time and place:

Yesterday, Sella saw the dog in the garden.

Notice that this example is ambiguous between whether the adjunct in the garden modifies the verb saw (in which case it is Sella who saw the dog while she was in the garden) or the noun the dog (in which case it is the dog who is in the garden).


C. ATTRIBUTE

In Oxford Dictionary, attribute is a verb to say or believe that something is caused by something. In linguistics, a syntax unit, either a word, phrase or clause that modifies a noun. In the other meaning, an attribute is a word or phrase syntactically subordinate to another word or phrase that it modifies.
For example:
My sister’s and brown in my sister’s brown dog.

The difference between an attribute and an adjunct lies in their position, an attribute comes before the head, and an adjunct after the head.
For examples:
a. All clever students of my class understand the new theories in the book.
Explanation: clever and new are the attribute of students and theories respectively, and of my class and in the book are the adjunct of same nouns.
b. Marry will definitely finish the work carefully.
Explanation: definitely is an attribute and carefully is an adjunct of the verb finish.
c. very good at the beginning
Explanation: very is an attribute and at the beginning is an adjunct of the adjective good.

D. SPECIFIER

A specifier is the element which a head requires to appear in a large construction. It makes the phrase head specific. In English, some examples of specifier are words such as the, no, every, which can preceded noun phrases. In a noun phrase, the specifier can be an article or genitive pronoun ( a, an, the, my, etc.). in adverbial phrase, it can be preceded by degree words such as very, extremely, rather, and quite.

For examples:

a. Budi lost his dictionary.
Explanation: his is specifier
dictionary is noun phrase.

b. She is quite certain of success.
Explanation: quite is specifier
certain of success is adverbial phrase.

The absence of the specifier result in the ungrammaticality of sentences can be seen in the examples:

• Budi lost dictionary
• She is certain of success.

The specifier position of a Verb Phrase (VP) may be occupied by on Noun Phrase (NP).
For examples:


a. I write novels
b. PRE ( I write novels)
c. * The dog writes novels.


a. The boys drink the tea.
b. PST ( The boys drink the tea )
c. * The window drank the tea

Several kinds of phrases can occupy the specifier position of a VP. The VP in the following examples have different types of specifier.

1. The show tasted for two hours.
2. To come on time is difficult.
3. What you said disappointed her.

In (1) an NP occupies the VS specifier position, in (2) a to verb construction, and in (3) a nominal clause. To before a verb is in fact also a preposition. It can be said, therefore, that the specifier position of a VP can be occupied by an NP, PP, or a nominal clause starting with a question word.