The examples given above are obviously extremely simple ones. In the vast majority of utterances there is more than just a subject and a verb. There is usually at least one further element to complete or supplement the construction. The total range of construction types for whole sentences is very great; a slightly fuller treatment of the topic will be found in Chapter 5 (see pp. 71–4). However, it is necessary to anticipate a little of this material, since it will help us to understand the distribution of verbs. Some verbs need to be followed by a completing element. The technical name for such an element is complement. For instance, we would not normally say, he mentioned or the tank seems. Mention and seem are verbs that take a complement, so we would expect them to occur in sentences like the following: He mentioned the evidence The tank seems empty In these sentences the evidence and empty are complements. Other verbs, however, occur very readily without any complement. In the following list of examples the verb occurs either without anything to follow it, or with an optional addition. The technical name for optional additions is adjunct. The difference between adjuncts and complements is that complements are essential to the structure of the sentence while adjuncts are not; adjuncts can easily be omitted without creating a feeling that something has been left unsaid. In these examples the adjuncts are in italics: The tree fell The boat sailed early Somebody spoke for a few minutes The verbs fall, sail and speak frequently occur as here without any complement. In the second example early is an adjunct. So is for a few minutes in the last example. The difference between complements and adjuncts can be further illustrated by using an ambiguous example. The following sentence has two interpretations: He explained last night In one interpretation, last night is a complement; ‘it was last night that was explained by him’. In the other interpretation, he explained something, but we are not told what. In this interpretation last night says WHEN he explained it, not WHAT he explained. If there had been both a complement and an adjunct in the sentence, the ambiguity would not have arisen: He explained last night this morning He explained the method last night In the first example, last night is the complement and this morning is the adjunct; in the second, 38 Verbs and verb phrases the method is the complement and last night is
the adjunct. (Exercise 3 is on p. 49.)