Object Complement?

[jasonkhlim]

Hi guys.
I came across 2 sentences in http://www.linguisticsgirl.com.

1. ''My supervisor considers his least favorite duty dealing with customers.''

2. ''The teacher declared the extra credit homework to write a report.''

Both of these sentences, ''dealing with customers'' and ''to write a report'' are object complement.
My question is:
Are they adjectival phrases?




Here is my own example:
''He is watching me playing video game now''

what kind of phrase is ''playing video game''?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Matthew Wai]

I consider 'playing a video game' to be a present-participial phrase modifying the pronoun 'me'.

 

[Osbri]

I think you should say "He is watching me play video games now" instead of "'He is watching me playing video game now."

 

[Matthew Wai]

Are they adjectival phrases?

I think 'dealing with customers' is a gerund phrase in #1.

 

[jasonkhlim]

I think 'dealing with customers' is a gerund phrase in #1.

Hello Matthew.
Can I write "he is watching me to play video games now."?

 

[emsr2d2]

No.

 

[tzfujimino]

On which page did you find those sentences, jasonkhlim?

 

[Matthew Wai]

Hello Matthew.
Can I write "he is watching me to play video games now."?

'Watch' is a verb of perception, so the bare infinitive instead of the to-infinitive should be used after its object.
For details, see http://www.icaltefl.com/verbs-of-perception-in-english-grammar

I came across 2 sentences in http://www.linguisticsgirl.com.

Neither of them can be found on that page.

 

[jasonkhlim]

'Watch' is a verb of perception, so the bare infinitive instead of the to-infinitive should be used after its object.
For details, see http://www.icaltefl.com/verbs-of-perception-in-english-grammar


Neither of them can be found on that page.

Thanks for the explanation.
Here is the link: http://www.linguisticsgirl.com/nominal-functions-of-english-verbs-and-verb-phrases/

 

[jasonkhlim]

Sorry guys,
Another question.

What about this sentence?
''There is so much wonderful stuff happening.''

In this sentence, ''happening'' isn't an object complement, right?
What is it?

 

[Matthew Wai]

I see no object and object complement in your sentence.

 

[TheParser]

[2] In this sentence, ''happening'' isn't an object complement, right?

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Hello, Jason:

I agree with you. It doesn't seem to be an objective complement. It may be a shortened version of:

"There is so much wonderful stuff [that is] happening."

Look at what one of my books says:

"For economy we often reduce relative clauses to more compact structures known as participial phrases."

It gives many examples, including these:

(a) "The snow [that is] falling today isn't sticking."

(b) "I startled the man [who is] sitting by the window."


Authority: Bruce L. Liles, A Basic Grammar of Modern English (1979).

*****

P.S. I think that Mr. Wai made an important point. "Wonderful stuff" is not an object.

We are told to ignore the "there" in analysis. Thus we should analyze: "is so much wonderful stuff happening." Then when we rearrange the words in regular order, we get: "So much wonderful stuff happening is." That is to say, "So much wonderful stuff [that is] happening is [ = exists]." As you can see, "wonderful stuff" is actually the subject.

 

[Matthew Wai]

I consider 'happening' to be a present participle modifying 'stuff'.

 

[twlost]

Not a teacher

Sorry guys,
Another question.

What about this sentence?
''There is so much wonderful stuff happening.''

In this sentence, ''happening'' isn't an object complement, right?
What is it?

a present participle, like "There's a storm coming, Mr. Wayne." from the following link:
http://grammar.about.com/od/e/g/existentialthereterm.htm

 

[Osbri]

I think you can also say "So much wonderful stuff is happening". Like Theparser said, I think "stuff" is the subject.

 

[Matthew Wai]

I think you should say "He is watching me play video games now" instead of "'He is watching me playing video game now."

I think otherwise. 'Playing a video game' might be better because the speaker is playing it at the moment of speaking.

 

[Osbri]

Yeah, you might be right but I think I heard that is how you should say it and he can say "He is watching me [STRIKE]while playing video game or[/STRIKE] while I'm playing video game." too.

 

[Rover_KE]

a present participle, like "There's a storm coming, Mr. Wayne." from the following link:
http://grammar.about.com/od/e/g/existentialthereterm.htm

twlost, please read this extract from the Forum Guidelines:

You are welcome to answer questions posted in the Ask a Teacher forum as long as your suggestions, help, and advice reflect a good understanding of the English language. If you are not a teacher, you will need to state that clearly in your post.

 

[jasonkhlim]

Oh I see.
which means sometimes participial phrase can replace a relative clause?

What about the sentence below?
''your mother going out with some random guy is the only reason you exist.'' = ''Your mother [who is] going out with some random guy is the only reason you exist.'' ?

 

[Matthew Wai]

'Your mother, who went out with some random guys, is the only reason you exist.'
I think the reason here is 'your mother' instead of 'went out with some random guys'.