Dear Michael,

To refer to such constructions as complements is perfectly fine.  I've seen
such structures called, variously, adverbial of direction complements and
adverbial of place complements.

JVB

At 05:04 PM 3/9/99 -0800, you wrote:
>In revising my own list of basic sentence patterns, I am ready to join
>Martha Kolln and others in seeing  subject+BE+adverb of time* or place as
>a pattern:
>
>John is here.
>John is in the kitchen.
>
>
>Would I be drummed out of the profession if I called that adverb a
>complement because it completes its verb  as much as  subject complements
>or direct objects complete their verbs?
>
>MIchael Kischner
>
>*Actually, I can't think of an adverb of time that goes comfortably in
>that slot.  "Choir practice is on Thursdays" doesn't seem to cut it; in
>that sentence, BE seems to be just a shortcut for HAPPEN or OCCUR.  I know
>that something similar is said of BE with an adverb of place -- that BE
>then means EXIST.  But this isn't my main question.
>
James Vanden Bosch              (616) 957-6592
Department of English           [log in to unmask]
Calvin College                  fax: (616) 957-8508
Grand Rapids, MI 49546          http://www.calvin.edu/~vand
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