Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1996. Vol. 1. Eger Journal of English Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 24)

Éva Kovács: Complements vs. adjuncts in valency grammar

bound elements, i.e. category (substantive, prepositional complement, embedded sentence etc.) and surface case . In the third level the restrictions - principally semantic - on each case are stated, which are expressed with familiar markers (e.g. animate, abstract, human, action, local, modal) and generally are accompanied by examples. 3 Complement - Adjunct Distinction Tests By far the most researched question in Valency Grammar is the practical distinction of complements and adjuncts. Several tests have been proposed by different authors for this. 3.1 Elimination Test The "elimination test" (Eliminierungstest) is described by Helbig and Schenkel (1973:33) as follows: "We eliminate an element from the sentence and observe whether the remaining sentence is still grammatical, then the eliminated element is not obligatory; if, however, it is ungrammatical, then the eliminated element is syntactically obligatory for the sentence to endure." e.g. (1 a) He put the book under the table. (lb) *He put the book. (lc) * He put under the table. The main problem with the elimination test, as Vater (1977:25) points out is that it is only able to seperate obligatory complements on the one hand from all other optional elements on the other. Therefore it cannot serve to distinguish complements from adjuncts. 3.2 The Extraction Method The extraction method (Abstrichmethode), introduced by Grebe (1966;468) looks very similar: "We cross out from all imaginable sentences the freely added elements." (2) The farmer ploughs his field in the morning. 118