Richard,
   Complements do, indeed, act differently, but they can move to the
front, provided we move the subject to the other side of the verb.
(Regular adverbials wouldn't require that movement.)
   "In the penitentiary was our poor Fastow after the scandal"
   Much more common would be something like: "In the garden was a large
maple tree. In front of the Maple was a particularly colorful rose
bush." And so on. "In the garden" and "in front of the maple" become
points of reference.
   "There was a penitentiary near my house, and in the penitentiary was
many a sorry drug user."
   The thematic pressure of discourse would push the movement and make it
seem smooth rather than awkward.

Craig
 >


Another point about PPs. There is a big difference in the roles of the
> two prepositional phases in this sentence:
>
>
>
> *         Fastow was in the penitentiary after the scandal.
>
>
>
> "In the penitentiary" is a complement. "After the scandal" is purely
> adverbial and modifies the verb phrase "is in the penitentiary."
>
>
>
> *         Adverbials can be moved to the front of the clause, so you can
> say "After the scandal Fastow was in the penitentiary."
>
> *         Complement PPs can't be moved to the front. Adverbial PPs
> cannot follow a linking verb. For both reasons you can't say *"In the
> penitentiary Fastow was after the scandal."
>
>
>
> ________________________
>
>
>
> Richard Veit
>
> Department of English, UNCW
>
>
>
>
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