The analysis of a phrase

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He looked at me for the first time."Come here," he said then.I began to smile at the stupid simplicity of the request. But then I felt my feet move without my willing them to do so, and I knew that spell lay upon me in this dark shadow.["Trump of Doom" of The Great Book of Amber by Roger Zelazny]I cant' figure out the structure of the underlined phrase.So, I'd like to hear the account of the structure.Thank you in advance for your help.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

It is a prepositional phrase. 'Willing' is the noun object. The other words modify the noun.

Park sang joon · Answer

Thank you, Mr.Micawber, for your so very kind answer.

I saw "them" as an object of "willing" and "to do so" as "objective complement.
So I was wondering if you meant "(for) them to do so" is an adjective to-infinitive.

BillJ · Answer

park sang joon I saw "them" as an object of "willing" and "to do so" as "objective complement.So I was wondering if you meant "(for) them to do so" is an adjective to-infinitive.

Not quite:

"without [my willing them [to do so]]"

"Them" is object of "willing" in the larger subordinate clause, but the smaller subordinate clause "to do so" is not an objective complement; it is a catenative complement to "willing". Catenative complements are different to objective complements. "Catenative" means 'chain'; in your example, the chain comprises two verbs "willing" and "do", in which "willing" is a catenative verb, and "do" is non-catenative.

BillJ

Park sang joon · Answer

Thank you, BillJ, for your very helpful answer.

I know nothing about catenative complements, but I don't think "will" can take any complement.
So I was still wondering the role of "to do so."

BillJ · Answer

park sang joonThank you, BillJ, for your very helpful answer.I know nothing about catenative complements, but I don't think "will" can take any complement.So I was still wondering the role of "to do so."

"without [my willing them [to do so]]"

"To do so" is most certainly the complement of "willing", which in your example also has the object "them" as a further complement.

The lexical verb "will" freely takes complements. Here are some more examples:

[1] You can't will her [to do it].
[2] He willed that his body be left for research.
[3] Kim stared at the fog, willing it [to go away]
[4] My aunt willed the house to me.

In [1] and [3], the underlined objects are complements of "will", as are the bracketed to infinitival subordinate clauses. In [2] the complement is the bracketed subordinate that clause. And in [4] the complement is just the direct object "the house".

And of course, "will" as a modal auxiliary verb takes bare infinitival clauses as complement, for example:

[5] I will [eat my lunch first].
[6] I'm sure he will [love your gift].
[7] Are you sure you will [like the place]?
[8] I don't think I will [go to the party].

In [5] - [8] the modal auxiliary "will" has the bracketed bare infinitival clauses as complement.

BillJ

The analysis of a phrase

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