Complement (linguistics) - Complements As Arguments

Complements As Arguments

In many modern grammars (for instance in those that build on the X-bar schema), the object argument of a verbal predicate is called a complement. In fact, this use of the term is the one that currently dominates in linguistics. A main aspect of this understanding of complements is that the subject is usually NOT a complement of the predicate, e.g.

He wiped the counter.

She scoured the tub.

The noun phrases (NPs) the counter and the tub are necessary to complete the meaning of the verbs wiped and scoured, respectively, hence they are complements.

While it is less common to do so, one sometimes extends this reasoning to subject arguments:

He wiped the counter.

She scoured the tub.

In these examples, the subject and object arguments are taken to be complements. In this area then, the terms complement and argument overlap in meaning and use. Note that this practice takes a subject complement to be something much different from the subject complements of traditional grammar, which are predicative expressions, as just mentioned above.