Predicator complement là gì

Hello everybody!

I would like someone who explains me what is the predicator complement (Cp) in a clause.
For example, there is one in this sentence:

We have twice weekly meeting (We= Subject[NG]/have= Predicator[NG]/ twice weekly meeting= Cp[NG])


Regards,


Raquel  Hi I hope it helps.

First of all I think that it would be easier for you to analyse the sentence if instead of:
We have twice weekly meeting -which doesn't sound right to me, was: We have a meeting twice a week.

Then should be sure of the meaning of the Predicator.

Keeping in mind that the predicator is the verbal component of the clause. Now, this verb may have some complements just like in Spanish. El verbo puede llevar complementos: de tiempo, modo, lugar, manera etc. These are the predicator complements.

In your sentence, we have the following:
-A DO (Direct Object= objeto directo) "meeting" (reunión semanal) and an adverbial (time) "twice a week" (dos veces por semana).

Hope it helps,

Ash.  In fact, I have We have twice weekly meeting in an exercise, so, for this reason I have to analyse it in this way. I understand what you mean with We have a meeting twice a week (which sounds better to me too), but with the sentence that I've given you, I have still doubts about why twice weekly meeting is the Predicator Complement.  I have studied Spanish and English grammar for decades and had never heard of a "predicator complement" until today.
(A "predicate complement" is something different:  it would be, for example, "president" in "The people elected Obama president.")
On the Web, I found a page that explains "predicator complement".
It is "Any obligatory constituent that is not classed as an object, and cannot be passivized."  ("Obligatory" for completing the meaning of the verb.)
Let's amend your sentence to "We have a weekly meeting."  Or consider the example from the web page: "We have plenty of time."
I don't know why "plenty of time" or "a weekly meeting" is not classed as an object (they seem like direct objects of "have", in my view).
But I do see that they cannot be passivized (we can't say

"A weekly meeting is had by us", nor even

"The weekly meeting is had by us.").

If we "have a meeting twice a week" (the normal way to say it, in my view),
I can imagine someone saying "We have a twice-weekly meeting", making a "temporary" adjective out of "twice-weekly". It would be unusual, but grammatical.  This is not a doubt of mine, this is an example in one of my exercises, so, maybe the mistake is in the sentence and, as you've written, the correct sentence is We have a twice weekly meeting, but I don't know, and for this reason I have to focus in my notes. I am studying English, and following my notes, predicator complement exists, and a predicator complement is written with verbs like have, marry, cost, etc., and that's what I don't understand. Could you explain me why?

I have an example with a sentence without these verbs (have, marry, cost, etc.):

·Support for the party dropped five points in May. (Five points is the Predicator Complement realised by NG).

In this case, why five points is the Cp, if we haven't the verbs I've said before?

Cenzontle said:   ... (A "predicate complement" is something different:  it would be, for example, "president" in "The people elected Obama president.")... Click to expand...
Another thing, I think that president is the Object Complement of the Direct Object Obama, doesn't it?

"Predicator" is what others call the head of the verb phrase (in other words, the lexical component of the verb phrase; the word that has basic meaning in relation to the subject). In we have twice weekly meeting (assuming the sentence is correct, although it sounds odd), the verb phrase -- the verb and all its components -- is "have twice weekly meeting," and the predicator is the lexical verb have. In support for the party dropped five points in May, the predicator is dropped. In other words, the "predicator" is simply the main verb, without auxiliaries. "Twice weekly meetings" and "five points" are called "predicator complement" because they complete the meaning of the "predicator." We can't call "twice weekly meetings" and "five points" direct objects (even though "have" and "dropped" are transitive) for various syntactic reasons. One reason is that verbs such as "have" and "drop" can't be turned passive (which means that they don't take direct objects, because direct objects are needed for the passive voice). And, yes, "president" is the complement of the direct object "Obama;" it is, then, an object complement.
Cheers

I think that president is the Object Complement of the Direct Object Obama Click to expand... I think you are right about that, RaquelSL.
What I see in common among the cases you cite is that they cannot be transformed into the passive voice.
We have a meeting.  But not

A meeting is had by us.
Romeo married Juliet.  But not

Juliet was married by Romeo.  (But

Romeo and Juliet were married by the local priest.)
A gallon of gas costs four dollars.  But not

Four dollars is/are cost by a gallon of gas.
The car weighs a ton.  But not

A ton is weighed by the car.
And not

Five points were dropped by support for the party.

Cenzontle said:   I think you are right about that, RaquelSL.
What I see in common among the cases you cite is that they cannot be transformed into the passive voice.
We have a meeting. But not

A meeting is had by us.
Romeo married Juliet. But not

Juliet was married by Romeo. (But

Romeo and Juliet were married by the local priest.)
A gallon of gas costs four dollars. But not

Four dollars is/are cost by a gallon of gas.
The car weighs a ton. But not

A ton is weighed by the car.
And not

Five points were dropped by support for the party. Click to expand...

SevenDays said:   "Predicator" is what others call the head of the verb phrase (in other words, the lexical component of the verb phrase; the word that has basic meaning in relation to the subject). In we have twice weekly meeting (assuming the sentence is correct, although it sounds odd), the verb phrase -- the verb and all its components -- is "have twice weekly meeting," and the predicator is the lexical verb have. In support for the party dropped five points in May, the predicator is dropped. In other words, the "predicator" is simply the main verb, without auxiliaries. "Twice weekly meetings" and "five points" are called "predicator complement" because they complete the meaning of the "predicator." We can't call "twice weekly meetings" and "five points" direct objects (even though "have" and "dropped" are transitive) for various syntactic reasons. One reason is that verbs such as "have" and "drop" can't be turned passive (which means that they don't take direct objects, because direct objects are needed for the passive voice). And, yes, "president" is the complement of the direct object "Obama;" it is, then, an object complement.
Cheers Click to expand...
Thank you very much Cenzontle and SevenDays! I can see everything clear now. So, in conclusion, if I have doubts to know if a constituent is a predicator complement in a sentence, firstly I check if an intransitive verb, as have, marry, cost, etc., appears and secondly, I check again if we can form passive voice with it, because with intransitive verbs is obvious that we cannot form passive voice because we need a Direct Object, as SevenDays has said.

Thanks a lot!

Yes, if it's an intransitive verb, then the predicator takes a complement: I sing in church, where where "sing" is intransitive/predicator (main verb), and "in church" is the predicator complement. The complicated part is that sometimes a verb is transitive (it needs something to complete its meaning) but can't take a direct object (because passive voice transformation is not possible): we have a meeting; "have" is transitive (we can't say "we have"), but "have" can't take a direct object (we can't say "a meeting is had by us" in the passive voice). In that case, "have" is the transitive predicator, and "a meeting" is the predicator complement.  
Cheers  Thanks a lot again. I have a grammar exam about syntactic analysis tomorrow, and you've saved me!

All the best,


Raquel

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