英语语法难点-补语详解 | Complement in English | 学习笔记 My Study Notes

Before Reading:

1. The notes in this column is in English mainly, for that Input (Reading & Listening) and Output (Writing & Speaking) are both important in English learning, recommending to rewrite a note in English yourself after reading this article.
   
   此专栏的所有笔记都是主要用英语写的，因为在英语学习中，输入（阅读和听力）与输出（写作和朗读）都是非常重要的。我推荐大家在阅读完此文章后，自己也用英语写一篇属于你的笔记。
2. (Recommending) Please make sure that you have learnt Basic Elements in a Sentence, referring to 英语句子六种基本成分-主谓宾定状补详解 | Basic Sentence Elements in English | 学习笔记 My Study Notes-CSDN博客.
   
   （推荐）请确保你已经了解过句子六种基本成分——主谓宾定状补，可查阅：英语句子六种基本成分-主谓宾定状补详解 | Basic Sentence Elements in English | 学习笔记 My Study Notes-CSDN博客。

1. Recognize Complements in Sentences | 识别句子中的补语

The complement is either an adjective element or a nominal element.

补语要么是形容词性成分，要么是名词性成分。

The complement can modify object and can also modify subject. To avoid confusing complements with objects, adverbials and attributives, you can judge complement with a formula - "A is B".

补语既可以修饰宾语，也可以修饰主语。为了防止将补语与宾语、状语和定语弄混，你可以用一个简单的公式来识别补语——“A is B”。

So, the element we calling as the predicative commonly is also complement (subject complement).

因此，我们常称作为 “表语” 的成分，实际上就是补语（即主语补语）。

Here are some examples for the predicative (表语):

• Michael is a boy.
• Sally is a girl.
• Your feet smell awful. ("smell" is a link verb 系动词, so, "awful" is a predicative 表语, also a complement) -> Your feet is awful. 
• That sounds nice. ("sound" is also a link verb, like the above example) -> That is nice.

The next part "Predicative" in this column has more detailed explanation. 此专栏下一节 “表语” 的笔记会对其有更详细的解释。（更新中...）

For examples (using "A is B" to explain in brackets):

• She painted the room blue. (room was blue)

• She painted the blue room. ("blue" is an attributive 定语)

 

• We consider him a fool. (he is a fool)

• We consider he is a fool. ("(that) he is a fool" is an object 宾语)

 

• I found the movie to be very interesting. (movie was very interesting)

• He is walking around naked. (He is naked, subject complement)

• He is walking around nakedly. ("nakedly" is an adverbial 状语)     ⬅️ Please consider whether this sentence is right. 请读者思考，这个句子是否语义正确。

 

• I asked him to buy something for me. (He was to buy something for me = He was going to buy something for me; 请注意此类形式——verb sb./sth. to do——的动词，”to do“ 均为宾语补语，且在这里可理解为名词性成分，此处不详细讲解不定式)

Advanced examples 进阶示例:

• Sally was made president of the school. ("president of the school" is a nominal element that modifies "Sally") -> Sally was president of the school.
• He denied involved in this case. (There are some omissions 省略 as no object 宾语 following at the verb "denied", the full is "He denied that he has been involved in this case.". "involved in this case" is the predicative 表语, and is also the complement.)
• We felt so much at home. (What does the preposition phrase "at home" modify? The only one that is modified by "at home" is the subject "we", i.e. "We are at home". So, "at home" is a preposition phrase of adjective element, and is also the complement, and the adverbial "so mush" modifies "at home". 翻译：介词短语 “at home” 修饰的是什么？唯一可以被 “at home” 修饰的是主语 “we” ——即 “We are at home”。所以，“at home” 是一个形容词性的介词短语，同时也是一个补语。并且 “so much” 是用来修饰 “at home” 的状语，如果你认为 “so much” 修饰的是 “felt”，不妨使用翻译器翻译一下这个句子。)
• I plead guilty, Your Honor. ("guilty" is an adjective, modifying "I"; "Your Honor" is an appellation “Your Honor” 是一个称谓，即 “殿下”)
• He instantly turned furious the picture of anger. ("He is the picture of anger.")
• They parted best friends. (How to understand this sentence? If you understand it in the literal meaning, you will get "They called their best friends, and made them apart.", because "part" is a causative verb. However, if "best friends" is a complement, it means "They parted, and are still best friends", "They are best friends" in "A is B" formula, now. 翻译：如何理解这个句子？如果你直接从字面来理解，你将会得到 “他们把他们最好的朋友都找了过来，并让他们自己分开” 这个意义，因为 “part” 是使动词——使……分开。然而，如果 “best friends” 理解为一个主语补语，意思就变成了 “They parted, and are still best friends.”。根据 “A is B” 的判断依据，可以得到 “They are best friends.”。)

2. Where to Use Complement (in Writing) ? | 何处使用补语（在写作中）？

Where to use the adverbial and where to use the complement? 何处使用状语又在何处使用补语呢？

In the above examples, we can find a special sentence: "He is walking around nakedly.". Think now, is this a right sentence in your real life?

在上面的示例中，我们可以发现一个特殊的句子：“He is walking around nakedly.”。现在思考一下，这个句子在现实生活中是正确的吗？

Analyze the two different but similar sentences:

• He is walking around naked. ("naked" is an adjective element 形容词性成分, so it must modify the nominal element 名词性成分 "he"; and also, "naked" is a complement for adjective 形容词性的补语 and the inner meaning "he is naked" proper)
• He is walking around nakedly. ("nakedly" is an adverbial element, and it modifies "is walking" obviously, but it is strange 奇怪的. See following more examples for deeply understanding the "strange".)

• Angry with his dad, Sally stormed out of the room. (Which element does the complement modify? The subject "Sally"? Or the object "room"? Obviously the former 前者. Because the room is not supposed to be angry according to your real life's experience.)

• Larry stood there silent. ("silent" modifies "Larry", "Larry was silent".)
• Larry stood there silently. ("silently" modifies "stood". This is strange. Because it is prone to the meaning of "Larry stood there in a silent way. Larry 以一种安静的方式站在那里。", that does not make sense.)

• Do not drive tiredly! (It means the action "drive" is tired itself)
• Do not drive tired! (For Chinese meaning is "拒绝疲劳驾驶！". "tired" modifies the inner subject "you", "you are not tired", the same below.)

• Take it easy.
• Take it easily. (Wrong)

• Everything will come rightly. ("Everything will come in a right way.")
• Everything will come right. ("Everything is right.")

• Michael stared at me speechlessly. (The action "stared" can not be speechlessly.)
• Michael stared at me speechless. ("Michael is speechless.")

• I read the letter heart-brokenly.
• I read the letter heart-broken.

3. Analyze Complex Sentence | 分析长难句

Encountering a complex sentence whenever, the first task you need to fulfill is finding the main branch (subject, predicate and object), considering other elements of this sentence after the main branch found.

无论何时遇到一个长难句，你首先要做的是找到句子主干（主谓宾），然后再考虑句子的其他成分。

For an instance:

Despite the relentless downpour, with raindrops cascading from the darkened sky, the weary traveler trudged on, his clothes soaked and his spirits dampened, determined to reach his destination before nightfall, where warmth and shelter awaited him, providing solace from the tempestuous elements that assailed him along the treacherous path.

漆黑的天空中，倾盆大雨不间断地下着，尽管衣服已经湿透，并且意志也变得消沉，疲惫的旅行者仍然艰苦跋涉着。为了在黎明前到达温暖的庇护所，这一个在他艰难险阻的漫漫长路上唯一慰藉着他的目的地。（个人翻译的，以意译为主，仅用于理解句子意思，不应该作为分析句子成分的参考。）

• Despite the relentless downpour (prepositional phrase 介词短语) -> Modifies "trudged"
• with raindrops cascading from the darkened sky (non-finite verb structure 非限定性谓语结构) -> Modifies "trudged"
• The weary traveler trudged on ("traveler" is subject, and "trudged" is predicate; "on" is an adverb, modifying "trudged"; this is the only main branch in this long sentence 这是本长句中的唯一主干)
• his clothes soaked and his spirits dampened (non-finite verb structure 非限定性谓语结构) -> Modifies "trudged"

• determined to reach his destination before nightfall ("determined" cannot be predicate “determined” 不是谓语【也不是非谓语】, because of one existing predicate at the above clause. It is an adjective 形容词, so, this clause is subject complement.) -> Modifies "traveler" 【“to ...” 部分可理解为名词性补语，符合 “traveler was to reach his destination”，此处不详细解释不定式】
• where warmth and shelter awaited him (attributive clause 定语从句) -> Modifies "destination"

• providing solace from the tempestuous elements that assailed him along the treacherous path (non-finite verb structure 非限定性谓语结构) -> Modifies "trudged"

No detailed descriptions about non-finite structure is provided in this note. 这篇笔记不深入涉及非限定性谓语结构。

In this example, all the sentences that colored green are adverbials, and all the sentences that colored yellow are attributives and complements of adjective element. Excluding attributives, adverbial and complements, the rest element of the sentence is the main branch.

在这个示例中，所有标绿色的从句都是状语，所有标黄色的从句都是定语和形容词性补语。除了定状补，剩余部分就是句子主干。