I do what Bill does with S link-V SC sentences for the types that Scott mentioned.  A similar kind of sentence that my students get tangled up with:

"He seemed angry that I entered so quickly." 
"She seemed happy that we were friends."

I teach from Martha Kolln's _Understanding English Grammar_ which doesn't cover those sentences. Students want to call them nominal clauses. I tell students that they are "a kind of complement that we don't study in this class", and that the clauses can be distinguished from nominals because they can't be replaced with "something":

*He seemed angry something.
*She seemed happy something.

Does anyone teach about this kind of sentence?  How do you approach it? 

The great thing about discussing the complications is that it gets students away from viewing syntax as a set of straightforward rules that apply to every utterance (like math) and more towards viewing it as an attempt to explain/understand a pre-existing very complex system (like biology).

Beth

Dr. Beth Rapp Young
Associate Professor, English
[log in to unmask]

University of Central Florida
"Reach for the Stars"

________________________________________
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Spruiell, William C [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, August 17, 2015 12:17 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: linking with infinitive question

Scott,

With undergraduates, I just call the infinitive phrases in those examples subject complements, parallel to the adjectival subject complements in “He appeared upset” or “He seemed happy.” That hammers the sentences into the nice, familiar “S link-V SC” mold. I tell the students that that’s a labeling dodge, though — it’s a cost-benefit tradeoff between simplicity and accuracy.

— Bill Spruiell



From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> on behalf of Scott Woods <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Reply-To: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Date: Monday, August 17, 2015 at 1:28 AM
To: "[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Subject: linking with infinitive question

Dear List,

How would you characterize the verbs in the following sentences?

    He appeared to demand my speedy entrance.

    He seemed to think that we were friends.

Thanks,

Scott Woods




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