Grammar in EAP
Adjectival groups as complements
Adjectives can be used either attributively (e.g. the big house) or predicatively/as complements (e.g. the house is big). Complex adjectival groups used as complements are common in academic writing, as are attributive adjectives. Examples of adjectival groups used as complements are:
It is necessary.
Nicolson’s account is far too discreet.
The same is true of the various biographies of Lloyd George.
It is impossible to understand what followed.
The outcome of a correct response is reliably different for the two trial types.
The evolution of associations of mutual benefit is theoretically easy to imagine.
The development of arms and legs is very important in its own right.
A more complex description is:
| Premodifier | Head | Postmodifier | Complement | |
| necessary | that he comprehend the events of 1931. | |||
| far too | discreet | indeed | ||
| true | of the various biographies of Lloyd George. | |||
| impossible | to understand what followed. | |||
| reliably | different | for the two trial types. | ||
| theoretically | easy | for anyone | to imagine. | |
| very | important | in its own right | ||
| long | enough | to convince me that commercial writing and journalism were too ephemeral for me. | ||
Sentences such as:
It is impossible to understand what followed.
are frequent in academic writing.
