"a failure" refers to "I"?
Ser Waymar looked him over with open disapproval. “I am not going back to Castle Black a failure on my first ranging. We will find these men.”
This quote is from A Game of Thrones.
To analyze the underlined part, I think "a failure" is a subject-oriented secondary predicate, which refers to "I".
Primary predicate: I am not going back to Castle Bkack
Secondary predicate: I am a failure.
So the sentence is equivalent to "I am not going back to Castle Black and I am a failure"
Is my thinking right?
Thank you.
Top answer
I am not going back to Castle Black a failure on my first ranging. The underlined noun phrase is a 'depictive predicative adjunct' with the subject "I" as predicand. Such depictives are optional and hence they are adjuncts not complements (cf.
- I am not going back to Castle Black a failure on my first ranging.
- The underlined noun phrase is a 'depictive predicative adjunct' with the subject "I" as predicand.
- Such depictives are optional and hence they are adjuncts not complements (cf.
- He talked himself hoarse )
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I am not going back to Castle Black a failure on my first ranging.
The underlined noun phrase is a 'depictive predicative adjunct' with the subject "I" as predicand.
Such depictives are optional and hence they are adjuncts not complements (cf. He talked himself hoarse)
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