Suggested answer for Exercise 11
| (1) | a. | David wrote a letter on the desk. |
| b. | David put a letter on the desk. | |
| c. | Mary slept in the bed. | |
| d. | Mary stayed in the bed. | |
| e. | Jill arrived at the station. | |
| f. | Jill waited at the station. |
Complements are part of the VP while adjuncts are added to the VP, forming another VP node:
| (2) |
As it can be seen in (2), the verb and its complement forms a phrase without the adjunct, while the verb itself cannot form a phrase without its complement. This fact can be made use of when we would like to decide about the complement or the adjunct status of a particular item. If a phrase can somehow be separated from the verb, then it is an adjunct, while if it cannot be separated, then the phrase is probably a complement of the verb.
Let us apply the so called ‘do so’ test for sentences (1a) and (1b). The string do so or did so always substitutes for a VP. If the sentence is well-formed, then the phrase which do so stands for is a VP. If the sentence is ill-formed, then the string of words which do so stands for is not a VP.
| (3) | a. | Jim wrote a letter on the table and David wrote a letter on the desk. |
| b. | Jim wrote a letter on the table and David did so on the desk. |
As we can see in (3a–b), did so substitutes for wrote a letter. The sentence is well-formed, which means that the string wrote a letter is a VP. The PP on the desk is outside the VP, so it is an adjunct.
| (4) | a. | Jim put a letter on the table and David put a letter on the desk. |
| b. | *Jim put a letter on the table and David did so on the desk. | |
| c. | Jim put a letter on the desk and so did David. |
In (4b) did so stands for put a letter. Since (4b) is ill-formed, the string put a letter cannot be a full VP. The PP on the desk is part of the VP, which can be seen in (4c) as well, where so did substitutes for put a letter on the desk. According to (4b), the PP on the desk is a complement of the verb in (1b).
Let us choose a different test for sentences (1c–d). The test used in (5) and (6) is called VP-fronting.
| (5) | a. | Mary wanted to sleep in the bed and [sleep]1 she did e1 in the bed. |
| b. | Mary wanted to sleep in the bed and [sleep in the bed]1 she did e1. | |
| (6) | a. | *Mary wanted to stay in the bed and [stay]1 she did e1 in the bed. |
| b. | Mary wanted to stay in the bed and [stay in the bed]1 she did e1. |
In (5a) sleep was moved from behind did. The sentence is grammatical, which means that the moved item has to be a full phrase. sleep is a VP, thus the PP in the bed is an adjunct. Since the VP and the adjunct together form a VP node as well, sentence (5b) will also be grammatical.
In (6a) only the verb stay is moved and the sentence is ill-formed. This means that stay alone cannot form a whole VP. The PP in the bed is now not an adjunct but a complement of the verb. If we move the verb and the PP together, the sentence is well-formed, as we can see in (6b).
Now let us consider the sentences is (1e–f). The test we are going to use is pseudo-clefting.
| (7) | a. | *What Jill did at the station was [arrive]. |
| b. | What Jill did was [arrive at the station]. | |
| (8) | a. | What Jill did at the station was [wait]. |
| b. | What Jill did was [wait at the station]. |
In the above pseudo-cleft sentences, if the sentence is well-formed, the string following the auxiliary was is a phrase, in these cases a VP. In (7a) the sentence is ill-formed, so the verb arrive alone is not a full VP. The PP at the station is a complement of the VP, thus it cannot be separated from the verb. (7b) is well-formed because the verb is not separated from its complement. In (8a), similarly to (7a), only the verb follows the auxiliary was. The difference is that now the sentence is well formed. This means that the verb wait and the PP at the station can be separated. The PP at the station is an adjunct. Since a VP and an adjunct form another VP node, the sentence in (8b) will be grammatical as well.