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
>[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Peter Adams
>Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2008 11:56 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Prepositional Phrases as Subject Complements
>
>How would you categorize the prep phrase, "in a bad mood," in a 
>sentence like the following?
>
>Cornelia was in a bad mood.
>
>How about the prep phrase "in her car" in the following sentence?
>
>Deb was in her car.
>
>
>
>Peter Adams
>
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