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Park red 65 Posted 9 years ago
Grammar

Adverbial, Complement to the object or another object?

Hello all, this is my first post here. I do not know how to analyse the elements of the following sentence:

I watched the plumber putting up a shower.

I (Subject)

watched (Verb)

The plumber (Od)

Putting up a shower (?????????????)

Thanks to all!!!

  

Top answer

[the plumber putting up a shower] Case 1. " Traditional texts would call "putting" a gerund, and "plumber" the subject. Case 2.

— AlpheccaStars

  • [the plumber putting up a shower] Case 1.
  • " Traditional texts would call "putting" a gerund, and "plumber" the subject.
  • Case 2.
  • " You were watching a plumber (who was, at the time, putting up a shower.
  • ) Most likely, Case 1 is the appropriate choice.
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2 Answers
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[the plumber putting up a shower]

Case 1. That is a non-finite clause which is the complement of the verb "watched." You were watching the plumber's activity, which was "putting up a shower."

Traditional texts would call "putting" a gerund, and "plumber" the subject.


Case 2. [putting up a shower]

A non-finite relative clause modifying "plumber."

You were wat

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park red 65I watched the plumber putting up a shower.

Huddleston and Pullum call this a complex catenative construction. Of course, the two verbs are 'watch' and 'put'.

I watched [the plumber putting up a shower].

The bracketed words are a clausal complement of 'watched', a configuration analogous to a direct object, but a whole clause.

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