Craig:
I don't see any difference between what you call "transitory" and what Martha has called 'events'.
 
All of your examples refer to events, right? (e.g. Emily's interview, the births of children, etc.)
 
Best--
Linda
 
 
 
Linda Di Desidero, Ph.D.
Acting Director, Communication Studies & Professional Writing
University of Maryland University College
3501 University Boulevard, East
Adelphi, MD 20783

________________________________

From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar on behalf of Craig Hancock
Sent: Mon 5/19/2008 10:42 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Prepositional Phrases as Subject Complements


Martha, Dick,

  I think it's more the notion of being transitory (rather than events) that limit the adverbial time complements for the verb "to be." Even Emily can be "after lunch" in the right context. "We interview John this morning. Emily is after lunch." Emily, of course, stands in for "Emily's interview."
   Or consider someone asking about the birth order of children. "John was first. Paul was second. Craig was after Paul. Barbara was after Craig..." And so on. Or how about "God is forever"? "Death is imminent"? 
   The constraints seem more semantic than syntactic. 

Craig


Martha Kolln wrote: 

	I certainly agree, Dick, that these adverbials have limitations.  Time adverbials are limited, I suspect, to events.

	Martha



		Martha,

		 

		We probably should make a distinction between time/place adverbials that are complementary (describing the subject) and those that are non-complementary (purely adverbial, describing the predicate). For example, in your sentence "The car is here now,"  "here" is complementary but "now" is not. We can say "The car is here," but we can't say "The car is now." 

		 

		Likewise the sentence "Emma was at the beach after final exams" allow us to say "Emma was at the beach," but it doesn't allow us to say "Emma was after final exams." "At the beach" is an adverbial that complements the subject (answers "Where was Emma?). "After final exams" is a non-complementary adverbial (answers "When was Emma at the beach?" rather than "When was Emma?").

		 

		Dick

		________________________________

		Richard Veit
		Department of English
		University of North Carolina Wilmington

________________________________

		From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Martha Kolln
		Sent: Friday, May 16, 2008 2:58 PM
		To: [log in to unmask]
		Subject: Re: Prepositional Phrases as Subject Complements

		 

		Hi Patty,

		 

		In traditional grammar, be is classified as a linking verb. That  system leaves out sentences like Peter's second one, "Deb was in her car,"  where what follows be is an adverbial.

		 

		This is a pattern that , in my grammar book, I identify as "NP be  ADV/TP"--where be is followed by an adverbial of time or place, rather than by a subject complement.  Such adverbials are often prepositional phrases.  Here are some other examples:

		 

		        

		        Deb was there.

		 

		        

		        The car is here now.

		 

		        

		        The party will be tomorrow.

		 

		        

		        The election was on Tuesday.

		 

		 

		These "completers" of the predicate don't describe or rename the subject, as Peter's first example does. "Cornelia was in a bad mood" is another way of saying "Cornelia was cranky."  I suppose you could call the adverbial completers complements, but they aren't subject complements as adjectivals and nominals are.

		 

		And note too that the adverbials that complete be sentences are limited to time or place; adverbials of manner, for example, don't work here.  It's not that we can't say "Deb was quickly"--it's just that we don't.

		 

		Martha

		 

		 

		 

		 

		 

		
		

			Sincere question, here:
			
			Would it be OK/accurate to say that, in the first sentence, "in a bad mood"
			is a prepositional phrase functioning adjectivally, where in the second
			sentence, "in her car" is more of an adverbial function?
			
			Tell the truth, I'm not sure how to classify "location" as a subject
			complement.
			
			My thinking is: how would I explain this to students, who might not have had
			the exposure to this grammar list?
			
			-patty
			
			-----Original Message-----
			From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
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