Sentence parsing

Question

Dear teachers,

I am trying to parse the following sentence

"I am happy to be working from home."

So here "happy is an adjective and the phrase(?) "to be working from home" explains why I am happy. So can we consider this phrase an adverbial phrase?

Also could you please explain this structure

to + be + v1 + ing (its uses)

Many thanks.

BillJ · Accepted Answer

I am happy to be working from home.

No, it's not an adverbial phrase.

"To be working from home" is an infinitival clause functioning as complement of the adjective "happy". Thus the whole underlined element is an adjective phrase functioning as complement of the verb "be" (i.e. "am").

Very often complements are obligatory elements, which is the case here with the adjective phrase. But post-head complements in adjective phrase structure are for the most part optional elements, as the infinitival clause in your example is.

Within the infinitival clause is the gerund-participial (ing form) clause working from home, which is complement of "be".

Sentence parsing

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