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
>>[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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>
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