How many complements are needed in the below sentence?
"I ask you to clean the room."
This sentence above has one complement or two complements?
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1 Answer
How many complements are needed in the below sentence?
- "I ask you to clean the room."
The expected answer might depend on the grammar book you are using or on your teacher.
This is how I would parse something like that:
- "[I] asked [you] [to clean the room]."
The parts of that sentence #2, at matrix clause level, are:
"asked": the matrix verb of the sentence.
"I": a complement. It is functioning as the subject, and the subject is an external complement.
"you": a complement. It is an internal complement. It is functioning as an object (though some linguists might disagree here on this point).
"to clean the room": a complement. It is an internal complement. It is a to-infinitival clause.
And so, my answer would be: There are three complements.
CAVEAT: Your teacher and/or grammar textbook might want a different answer from what I had just given you.
