Complements and adjuncts of N
In studying the structure of a clause we have distinguished complements, which are selected by the verb, from adjuncts, which are not. Nouns, too, can take complements and adjuncts of various categories. We will discuss some of the criteria for distinguishing complements from adjuncts within an NP.
As mentioned above, adjuncts to an NP are often referred to as modifiers. The most common type of MODIFIER in English is the adjective. Besides adjectives, NPs can also contain PP modifiers, as illustrated in (1). The prepositional phrase with long hair in these examples functions as an adjunct; it is not selected by the head noun, but may be freely added to any number of NPs, subject to semantic and pragmatic plausibility.1
(1) a a student [with long hair]
b a boy [with long hair]
c a girl [with long hair]
d a teenager [with long hair]
e a punk [with long hair]
On the other hand, a PP may also function as a complement within NP. We defined a COMPLEMENT of a phrase as a dependent (non-head) constituent which is “selected by” the head word of that phrase. Complement PPs are LEXICALLY SPECIFIED; they only occur with certain specific head nouns and not with others. For example, all of the NPs in (2) contain the PP of Physics, but only (2a) is grammatical. This is because the noun student can take a complement of this type, while the other head nouns (boy, teenager, etc.) cannot.
(2) a a student [of Physics]
b ∗a boy [of Physics]
c ∗a girl [of Physics]
d ∗a teenager [of Physics]
e ∗a punk [of Physics]
The contrast between complement PPs and adjunct PPs is also reflected in other ways. As (3) illustrates, when a given NP contains both a complement PP and an adjunct PP, the complement must always precede the adjunct, as in (3a). An adjunct may not separate the complement PP from its head N, as shown in (3b).
(3) a a student [of physics] [with long hair]
b ∗a student [with long hair] [of physics]
The phrases in (4) illustrate that a complement PP must be unique; no single NP can contain more than one complement PP of the same type (4a). Adjunct PPs, however, can be more freely multiplied as illustrated in (4b, c).
(4) a ∗a student [of Physics] [of Chemistry]
b a student [from Philadelphia] [with long hair]
c a student [with long hair] [with an interest in Thomas Aquinas]
As the examples in (5) illustrate, a question phrase can be formed from a complement PP but not from an adjunct PP.
(5) a What branch of Physics are you a student of?
b ∗What kind of hair are you a student with?
The pro-form one can be used to refer to the head noun when it is followed by an adjunct PP, as in (6a), but not when it is followed by a complement PP as in (6b).
(6) a The [student] with short hair is dating the one with long hair.
b ∗The [student] of Chemistry was older than the one of Physics.
Finally, notice that PP complements of a noun can often be paraphrased as NP arguments of the corresponding verb; this is illustrated in (7).
(7) a a student [of Physics]
a’ John studies Physics
b the loss [of his passport]
b’ John lost his passport
c the attack [on Pearl Harbor]
c’ the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor
Like PPs, clauses too may occur within NPs as either complements or modifiers. A clause that functions as a modifier within the NP is called a RELATIVE CLAUSE. This construction will be discussed in greater detail in Subordinate clauses, but some examples are given in (8).
(8) Clausal modifiers (Relative clauses)
a the woman [that I love]
b the food [that I love]
c the color [that I love]
d the idea [that I love]
e the theory [that I love]
Because the modifying clause is a kind of adjunct, nearly any head noun can occur in this pattern. In contrast, clausal complements are allowed only with certain specific head nouns, most commonly with nouns describing verbal or mental activities. Example (9) shows that some nouns accept such complement clauses while others do not.
(9) Clausal complements
a the report [that I love Margaret Thatcher]
b the idea [that I love Margaret Thatcher]
c the theory [that I love Margaret Thatcher]
d ∗the woman [that I love Margaret Thatcher]
e ∗the food [that I love Margaret Thatcher]
f ∗the color [that I love Margaret Thatcher]
1. The examples in (1–6) are taken from Radford (1988:176ff.); (4b,c) have been modified.
