Dick,

I can't agree that the use of "today" in the first sentence is a subject
complement. The word doesn't complement the noun phrase, "The exam," but
modifies the (unstated or implied) main verb, "given." The sentence really
reads: "The exam was (given) today."

This reading still indicates that "today" is an adverb of time.

As I learned it, a subject complement is either going to be a noun or an
adjective. "Today" is neither.

PED

-----Original Message-----
From: Dick Veit, UNCW English Dept. <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Saturday, October 16, 1999 11:35 AM
Subject: Re: Subject complements


>Johanna Rubba wrote regarding "Elvis is in Rock 'N Roll Heaven":
>
>> In your last example, the adv. phrase would be a locative expression. I
>> don't feel that these are subject complements; I think they modify the
>> verb 'is', similar to time adverbials like 'the test is Thursday'.
>
>Johanna:
>
>A locative adverbial like "in Rock 'N Roll Heaven" or a time adverbial like
>"Thursday" or "today" can be used in two very different ways, as in the
>following sentences :
>
>  1.  The exam was today.
>  2.  The exam was easy today.
>
>Only in the second sentence is "today" a verb-phrase modifier--the same
role it
>has in "I wrote a letter today."  In the first example, however, it has a
>different role, one that I would still want to call a "subject complement."
You
>and I are stipulating different definitions of that term; I would choose to
>define it as something like "the phrase that follows a linking verb and
>expresses some equivalency, quality, or attribute of the subject."  In that
>sense "today" in sentence 1 "complements" the subject noun phrase "the
exam"; in
>contrast, "today" in sentence 2 modifies the verb phrase "was easy."
>
>Dick Veit