Complements of the Verbs:

We can have That, infinitive, gerund, and interrogative complements. Verbs are limited
as to the kinds of complements they can take. Consider, for example, the verbs want,
enjoy and think in the following examples:

(1) a. He wants to watch television. Infinitive complement

b. *He wants watching television.
c. *He wants that he will watch television.

(2) a. He enjoys watching television. Gerund complement

b. *He enjoys to watch television.

c. *He enjoys that he watches television.

(3) a. He thinks that he will watch television. That complement

b. *He thinks to watch television.

c. *He thinks watching television.

Adding to the potential difficulties for English language learners some verbs can take
more than one type of complement. To construct grammatical sentences with
complements, a student must know which kind of complements can appear after a verb.
We will now turn to a discussion of the types of complements in English, focusing on
the verbs that take each type and, at points, including adjectives as well.

That-Complements

Many verbs take complements introduced by that. As discussed before that is a

complementizer. That complements contain overt subjects, which need not be identical
to the subject of the sentence, as illustrated in the following example:

(4) a. He thinks that she is beautiful

Most of the times, That complements are finite clauses- the verb in the clause is
inflected for tense, except when following verbs from a particular subset that we will
see later.

In that they contain a subject and a verb inflected for tense, that complements, the
complement immediately follows the main clause verb. With certain verbs, however, an
NP or to+NP may intervene, as illustrated in:

(5) a. He told her that she is beautiful.

 b. He mentioned to me that he would be leaving early.

Main clause verbs that report speech –for example, reply, say and tell occur with that
complements. Also common with that complements are verbs that express mental acts:
believe, comprehend, feel, find, guess, know, see, think and understand.

Certain of these verbs that take that clauses haven been called factive predicates
because their complement is assumed to be a fact. Examples include: bear in mind,
comprehend, know, regret and understand. For native speakers, sentences with factive
predicates are unacceptable when the complementizer is omitted.

(6) a. She replied that he must have been mistaken.

b. She comprehended that this would mean a big change in her lifestyle.

c. I regret that I had to punish him

d. ? She comprehended this would mean a big chance in her lifestyle.

e. ? I regret I had to punish him.

Yet other verbs that take complements are distinguished by the form of the verb in the
complement clause. It is to these verbs that we now turn.

Complements after verbs of Request or Demand

A subset of verbs that we can call verbs of request or demand –for example, ask,
demand, insist, recommend, and stipulate- must be followed by a that complement
containing a bare infinitive, as for example:

(7) We recommend that she accept his offer ---Subjunctive form (nonfinite clause!)

Raising Not from That Complements

(8) a. I imagine that he won´t want to come

b. I don´t imagine that he will want to come

(9) I do not imagine that he will ____want to come -----Negative raising

Negative raising can occur only with a few main clause verbs, such as anticipate,
believe, expect, imagine, suppose, and think and with several verbs such as appear and
seem with extraposed that complements. With verbs others than these, moving the not
out of the complement would result in a change of meaning, as a comparison of (10a)
and (10b) demonstrates:

(10) a. We forgot that she doesn´t like him

b. We didn´t forget that she likes him

Exercise:

Indicate for each sentence whether negative raising can or cannot apply, and if not,
explain why.

1- We believe that she isn´t coming.

2- It appears that she doesn´t want to compromise.
3- She thought that she didn´t have a chance.
4- She seemed not to care what he thought about her paper.
5- John realized that he could not answer all of the questions on the exam.

Infinitive Complements

Many verbs take to clause beginning with infinitives as complements. These nonfinite
clauses may or may not have an over subject. Infinitive complements can be
subclassified in terms of the verbs that take them. We can identify four types, each of
which follows a particular group of verbs. Complements of the four types differ in
whether they have an overt subject and, if not, what the subject is understood as being.
More specifically, as we shall see, they differ with regard to three questions:

- Is there an NP following the main clause verb?

-If so, is this NP the object of the main clause verb?

-What is the subject of the infinitive complement?

Type 1: Complements: Persuade Verbs

A large number of verbs, such as advise, authorize cause, compel, convince, order,
persuade and tell are transitive, and, therefore, must have an NP object, as in the
following example:

(11) Alice persuaded John to come to the party

We can confirm that John is the object of persuade thorough passivization, which
moves John into subject position in the main clause:

(12) John was persuaded (by Alice) [to come to the party]

Since John is the object of persuade, the infinitive complement in (11) has no overt
subject. However, John is understood as being its subject. The following sentence
reflects our intuition that the missing subject of the complement is identical to the object
of the main clause (parentheses indicate an understood subject).
(13) Alice persuaded John [(John) to come to the party]

In short, we can characterize sentences with persuade verbs as having the following
pattern: NP1 V NP2 [to V], with NP2 understood as the complement subject.

In terms of their meaning, persuade and the other verbs that take this complement type
have been called influence, or manipulative, verbs because their object is usually
influenced by the main clause subject to carry out the action expressed in the
complement. Usually an animate subject does the influencing or manipulating, as shown
in (11), but this is not always the case. In the following sentences, inanimate subjects
influence the object:

(14) a. Ignorance of thermodynamics compelled Susan to enroll in a physics class.

b. A desire to learn more about poetry induced Bruce to seek the advice of his old
English teacher.

The proposition expressed in the complement does not have to be an action. It can be a
state resulting from the influence of the subject on the object, as shown in:

(15) His pituitary condition caused him to be nine feet tall.

Type 2: Complements: Want Verbs

Another group of verbs that include hope, like, promise, and want, either can or must
occur without a following NP, as shown in:

(16) Joan wanted/hoped to write a letter to the mayor.

The missing subject of the complement is identical to the main clause subject. What
Joan wanted was that she herself write a letter to the mayor.

Some verbs in this group, including expect, need, promise and want, can also have a
following NP as ahown in (17):

(17) Joan wanted/expected/needed/ Bill to write a letter to the mayor.

What is the NP following the verb? Notice that if we ask the question What did Joan
want?, we get the answer for Bill to write a letter to the mayor. Thus, the NP Bill is not
itself the object of want but is instead the subject of the infinitive complement, as shown
in the bracketing in (18).

(18) Joan wanted [Bill to write a letter to the mayor]

Passivization supports this conclusion. The only way to apply the passive rule to (17) is
within the infinitive complement , so that the complement object, a letter, is moved into
subject position, as is shown in (19a). If Bill were the object of want, the passive in
(19b) would be grammatical, but it clearly is not.

(19) a. Joan wanted [a letter to be written to the mayor (by Bill)].

b. *Bill was wanted (by Joan) [to write a letter to the mayor].

The passive test thus allows us to confirm whether a verb takes a type 1 or a type 2
infinitive complement. With persuade verbs, the passive applies to the main clause, as in
(12); with want verbs it applies to the complement, as shown in (19).

In the case of some want verbs (including arrange, like, love, plan, and prefer) the
complentizer for can appear at the beginning of the complement, as illustrated in (20):

(20) a. We will arrange for your group to have access to the conference room.

b. I won´t plan (for) you to be back in time to go with us.

c. I will arrange (for) us to be away while they do the cleaning.

On want verbs is somewhat an exception to the pattern discussed –namely. Promise.

When promise occurs without a following NP, it clearly is like the other want verbs,
since for example, the meaning of (21a) y (21b) in which the bracketed complement
means that he (Bill) would write a letter to the mayor.

(21) a. Bill promised to write a letter to the mayor.

b. Bill promised [(Bill) to write a letter to the mayor].

Like many other want verbs, promise can also be followed by an NP. A comparison of
the sentence with promise in (22) with the sentences with other want verbs in (17)
reveals the difference.

(22) Bill promised Joan to write a letter to the mayor.

The NP after promise (i.e., Joan) is clearly the object of promise, and the subject of the
complement is missing but is understood as identical to the main clause subject (Bill).
Thus (22), with promise has the following structure:

(23) Bill promised Joan [(Bill) to write a letter to the mayor].

With want verbs, the, we have the patterns:

-hope: NP1 V [to V], with NP1 understood as the complement subject as in (16);

-want: which has the same pattern as hope verbs and also the pattern NP1 V [NP2 to V],
as in (17).

-promise: which has the same pattern as hope and want verbs and also the pattern NP1
V NP2 [to V, with NP1 understood as thr complement subject as in (22).
In terms of meaning, verbs that take type 2 complements can be said to include
commitment verbs(agree, decline, promise, refuse) and expectation verbs (desir, expect,
hope, want).

Type 3 Complements: Believe Verbs

A number of verbs, including acknowledge, believe, consider and judge, have an

infinitival complement that contains be plus an NP or an adjective, as shown in (24).

(24) Everyone believed Einstein to be a genius / brilliant.

(25) Tom considers himself to be a genius.

With some believe verbs (consider and judge) to be can be omitted:

(26) a. We consider him to be an expert in these matters.

b. We consider him an expert in these matters.

Verbs in the believe group typically have animate subjects who take a certain stance (of
belief, acknowledgement, acceptance, etc.) toward the proposition expressed in the
complement.

Type 4 Complement: Make Verbs

A few verbs, such as have, let and make, take a complement with a bare infinitive, as
shown in (27). The NP that occurs after the verb is the subject of the complement. Thus,
sentences with these verbs generally have the patter NP1 V [NP2 V NP3].

(27) Bill had/let/made Susan revise the article she had submitted. (bare infinitive!)

Along with get, these verbs are often referred to as “causative verbs”. Semantically,
they belong to the same influence/manipulative verb group as the persuade verbs: their
subjects manipulate someone or something to carry out the action in the complement.
Except for get, however, syntactically these causatives behave differently from
persuade verbs, by taking the bare infinitive.

The syntactic and semantic similarity of make to type 1 persuade verbs may explain one
of the most common grammatical error made by English language learners. Sentences
like *He made me to revise the article result from learners´ follow the patters of
persuade verbs by inserting to in complements following make.
A group of perception verbs (hear, observe, see, watch) also take bare infinitive
complements. And in addition, these verbs take gerund complements as we will study
later.

Verbs With Complements Similar to Believe Verbs

Although these verbs are not followed by an infinitive complement, they are included
here because learners of English may overgeneralize and apply an infinitive
complement structure to them.

Description/Classification verbs

A number of verbs, such as accept, characterize, classify, describe, intend, recognize,

regard, treat and use, take objects that are followed by an adjective or an NP.
Sentences with these verbs look very similar to sentences with believe verbs from which
to be has been omitted, the only obvious difference being the inclusion of as, as a
comparison between (28a) y (28b) shows:

(28) a. I would describe/characterize him as intelligent/ a diligent student.

b. I would consider him (to be) intelligent / a diligent student.

Because the adjective or NP after as describes or classifies the preceding NP object,

these verbs are referred to as description or classification verbs.

Naming Verbs

A group of so-called naming verbs, such as appoint, baptize, christen, crown, elect, and
name, take complements consisting of two successive NPs, the second of which names
or designates a title or office that the preceding NP holds. Examples are shown in (29):

(29) a. They elected him president.

b. The board appointed him boss pro tem.

EXERCISES:

1.- Indicate for each pair whether the sentences have the same patterns. If they do
not, say why by identifying the pattern types.

1. a. Alice refused to undertake the job.

b. Alice vowed to undertake the job.
2. a. John promised Susan to finish the project by Tuesday.
b. John ordered Susan to finish the project by Tuesday.
 3. a. Fred told Alan to conduct an investigation.
b. Fred expected Alan to conduct an investigation.
4. a. He ordered John to take the job.
b. He wanted John to take the job.
5. a. He considered him to be brilliant.
b. She needed him to be brilliant.

2.-Indicate whether each of the following sentences is grammatical. If a sentence is

not grammatical, explain why.

1. I believe her very knowledgeable about wine.

2. She described him to be highly intelligent.
3. He expected her to call him when she was finished.
4. She promised him to wait until he returned.
5. They appointed her to be secretary treasurer of the club.

From: Ron Cowan (2008). The teacher´s Grammar of English. Chapter 21.