Chapter published in:
Changing Structures: Studies in constructions and complementation
Edited by Mark Kaunisto, Mikko Höglund and Paul Rickman
[Studies in Language Companion Series 195] 2018
► pp. 129–149

The use of optional complement markers in present-day English

The role of passivization and other complexity factors

| University of Paderborn

This paper reports on the results of a corpus-based study exploring several major types of omissible complement clause markers. Throughout, the distribution of rival variants with or without these markers is accounted for in terms of the Complexity Principle correlating processing complexity and grammatical explicitness. The focus is on the use of passivized matrix verbs as well as other complexity factors in the active, which favour the more explicit variants containing the function words in question. At the same time, the paper registers, wherever practical and instructive, any parallels and differences between British and American English. In most cases, the variation phenomena in question are the result of ongoing developments either introducing or reducing the use of the relevant function words.

Keywords: complement markers, variation, corpus linguistics, Complexity Principle, passivization, (in)transitive complement verbs
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The complementizer that
    • 2.1Verb-dependent complement clauses
    • 2.2Noun-dependent complement clauses
  • 3.Infinitive marking
  • 4.Modal should in mandative complements
  • 5.The variable use of from introducing gerundial complements
    • 5.1Negative verbs of causation like put off
    • 5.2The particle verb hold off
  • 6.Interrogative complement clauses
  • 7.Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 22 May 2018
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.195.08roh
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