Oblique Complement

The Oblique Complement Test for identifying oblique complements in English An oblique complement is a PP or an AdvP which behaves like a complement, i.e. it is semantically implied syntactically necessary cannot be used with a pro-VP form such as do so: John put a book on the shelf and Mary did so (*into the drawer), too. but: it does not fit the definition of any of the other grammatical functions. typical examples: a particular preposition is required by the verb: wait for, substitute with, rely on, talk to ... about ..., ... the verb requires a directional phrase, independent of how this is lexicalized: put s.th. [somewhere]obl.compl Categories and structural position Oblique complements are always PPs. It is a sister of V and NP and dominated by a VP. Example:

             _S_
            /   \
           /     AuxP
          /     /  \
       subj    /   VP
        /     /   /  \
       /     /   / obl.comp
      /     /   /    |       
    NP   Aux   V    _PP__
   /__\   |    |   /_____\
   Pat  will wait  for Kim.

1. The predicate
   
2. The subject
   
3. The complements
   
   1. The direct object
      
   2. The indirect object
      
   3. The predicative complement
      
   4. The oblique complement
      
4. Modifiers (Adjuncts)
   

  ← Predicate Complement        ↑ Phrases          → Modifiers (Adjunct)