Does "John paid a dollar" sound good?

Question

0Hi, all. I am a linguistic student. I have a question about if "for a head of a lettuce" is a complement or adjunct. According to what we learned, if it is obligatory, it is a complement. so does "John paid a dollar" sound good to native speakers. Thank you.0-

Kooyeen · Accepted Answer

0 Hi,02br
00I'm not a native but I'm pretty sure you don't need "for a head of lettuce". You can say "John paid 10 dollars", "He paid too much", or even "Who paid? 01i00John 02i00paid". 050010id1

CalifJim · Answer

0 01blockquote

01cite10Anonymous12cite10I am a linguistic11font11b10s12b12font10 student.12blockquote

10 01blockquote

01cite10Anonymous12cite10I have a question about if "for a head of 11font11b11del~~10a12del~~12b12font10 lettuce" is a complement or adjunct. According to what we learned, if it is obligatory, it is a complement.12blockquote

101. An isolated phrase, like "for a head of lettuce", is neither a complement nor an adjunct. You must show it in a sentence. In one sentence it may be an adjunct; whereas in another sentence it may be a complement.02br
002. I don't know what method your teacher is using, but whether a constituent is obligatory or optional is not a criterion for deciding whether it's a complement or an adjunct. Adjuncts are certainly optional, but complements may be either obligatory or optional -- though most are obligatory.02br
00Example: 01i00I paid02i00 -- no complements, no adjuncts. 01i00I paid a dollar02i00 -- a dollar is a complement (optional). 01i00I paid for a head of lettuce02i00. -- 01i00paid for02i00 can be treated as a phrasal verb and 01i00a head of lettuce02i00 as a complement. 01i00I paid last month02i00 -- 01i00last month02i00 is an adjunct.02br
00Example: 01i00I read (that novel) for three hours02i00 -- 01i00that novel02i00 is a complement (optional), 01i00for three hours02i00 is an adjunct.02br
02br
00CJ 0-

Anonymous · Answer

0In the sentence "John paid a dollar for a head of lettuce", is "for a head of lettuce" a complement or adjunct? Actually I am drawing a tree diagram for the sentence "It strikes me as a good idea."  I didn't learn how to draw the tree for a sentence having a ditransitive verb. But I have the tree drawn for "John paid a dollar for a head of lettuce" in the textbook for the sentence. They treat "for a head of lettuce" as a PP to the V'. So if "for a head of lettuce" is a complement, I wonder if I can do the same thing to "as a good idea" in "It strikes me as a good idea." Thank you so much:)0-

Anonymous · Answer

Thanks a lot. I will trust the tree in your book. In your sentence I would treat "me" as a complememt of the verb and "as a good idea" as PP that modifies the verb "strikes" (of V' node).

Does "John paid a dollar" sound good?

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