The English Language english language

Basic Clause Patterns

having three basic elements. The main difference between the two lies in the
nature of the head verb and the semantic relations it creates. The functional
formula is (87a), exemplified by (87b):

(87) a. Basic clause pattern 3

Subject Verb Head Subject Complement

(87) b. Mary became famous

The pattern is slightly complicated by the fact that two different forms
can act as subject complement: a noun phrase or an adjective phrase. The
italicized phrases in (88) and (89) illustrate NP and AP complements, re-
spectively.

(88) a. Mary became a doctor.

b. You are a nuisance who ought to be barred from the pool.

c. He proved a success at ice-carving.

(89) a. Mary became famous.

b. I am quite aware of her foibles.

c. He proved unwilling to cooperate with my attorney.

The formal formula for pattern 3 is NP AUX [VPV {NP/AP}], which
combines the two formulae, (90a, b):

(90)a. NP AUX [VPV NP] (90)b. NP AUX [VPV AP]

We represent the VP portions of these formulae as (91a, b):

(91) a. VP (91) b. VP

V NP V AP

NP complements are sometimes called predicate nominals or predicative
nominatives. AP complements are sometimes referred to as predicate ad-
jectives.
A pattern that is helpful in distinguishing subject complements from
objects and modifiers is number agreement with the subject NP. If we make
the subject NP plural, we must also make a subject complement NP plural.
Compare (88a) with: