INTRODUCTION: MAJOR COMPLEMENTATION PATTERNS AND VALENCY
Complementation of the verb refers to the syntactic patterns made up by configurations of the clause elements. Each pattern contains a Subject and a Verb. The number and type of other elements in each pattern is determined by the verb. Complementation of the verb is a very rich and complex area of English grammar.
The aim here is to outline as simply as possible the main choices open to speakers from the standpoint of the verb. Choices are, however, balanced by requirements. Certain verbs in English may not admit a pattern, or a realization of a pattern, that is perfectly normal in another language.
There are three main types of complementation: intransitive, copular and transitive. The transitive has three sub-types.
The number of verbs in common use in English is very large, especially in certain constructions, such as the monotransitive. In addition, many verbs – especially those of general meaning, such as get, turn and make – admit more than one type of complementation, each of which reflects a different type of situation. Make, for instance, can enter into all but intransitive patterns:
I’ll make some tea. SVOd
I’ll make you a pizza. SVOiOd
He made the coffee too strong. SVOdCo
They make a good couple. SVCs
It makes for good relations. SVPC
The potential number of participants, including the subject – that is, the number of places’ in the clause that the verb controls – is sometimes referred to as its semantic valency. Different classes of verbs have different semantic valencies. The verb eat, for example, is a two-place verb: it has a semantic valency of two, because in any event of eating there must be an eater and a thing eaten. There are one-place verbs, which have a subject only, belonging in principle to the SV pattern. Two-place verbs have a subject and one other element, as in the SVC and SPO patterns. Three-place verbs have a subject and two other elements as in the SVOO and SVOC patterns. Syntactic valency refers to the number of nominal elements present in any given clause that have a direct grammatical relation to the verb. In The lions ate away at their prey, there is one nominal element, as their prey does not have a direct grammatical relation to the verb. Syntactic valency often corresponds to its semantic valency, but not always. Weather verbs such as rain and snow, for instance, have no semantic participant and so have a semantic valency of zero. As finite clauses in English require a subject, however, dummy it is used with such verbs, giving a syntactic valency of 1. Valency is reduced when one or more elements are omitted in use. For instance, eat has a semantic valency of 2 as in He ate an orange; the valency is reduced to 1 in What time do you eat here?
