Verbs after 'see'
'The 1970's saw the Arabian Gulf countries transformed into modern states.'
What is the structure after 'see' called?
I known that infinitive or _ing forms could be used, but this 'transformed' is new to me. Could you help, please?
Top answer
The 1970's saw the Arabian Gulf countries [transformed into modern states]. This is called a 'complex catenative' construction. “See” is a catenative verb and the bracketed subordinate clause is its catenative complement.
- The 1970's saw the Arabian Gulf countries [transformed into modern states].
- This is called a 'complex catenative' construction.
- “See” is a catenative verb and the bracketed subordinate clause is its catenative complement.
- It’s called a complex catenative here because the noun phrase “the Arabian Gulf countries” intervenes between the two verbs “saw” and “transformed”.
- The NP "the Arabian Gulf countries" is the syntactic object of the verb "saw", but it is only the sematic (understood) subject of the "transformed" clause.
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The 1970's saw the Arabian Gulf countries [transformed into modern states].
This is called a 'complex catenative' construction. “See” is a catenative verb and the bracketed subordinate clause is its catenative complement. It’s called a complex catenative here because the noun phrase “the Arabian Gulf countries” intervenes between the two verbs “saw” and “transformed”.
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