Monday, January 27, 2014

Is the prepositional phrase possibly called a subject complement?




Russet leaves were swept by past winds in heaps.



(Original sentence: "Russet leaves, swept by past winds in heaps."— Jane Eyre)





‘In heaps’ can be called as a ‘positional’ complement for verb phrase (were swept), yet it’s not an argument for the verb phrase. And if we regarded the verb phrase as a copular, ‘in heaps’ could be called as a semantic complement for the subject (russet leaves). So ‘in heaps’ may be called as a subject complement. Is this a possible view?


Answer



Many might see it simply as an Adverbial, or, in functional grammar terms, a Circumstance.


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