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She thinks of them as scenes because they're much too fragmentary to be stories and far too immediate to be memories.

Thanks,

Donna

This is a complex sentence in which both clauses are intransitive. In the independent clause, I would say that the first adverbial prepositional phrase, "of them", is a complement of the verb and the second prep. phrase, "as scenes", is an adverb of manner. Note that you cannot reverse their order, "thinks as scenes of them" (I'm not saying this is proof that the first phrase is a complement unless you think it is a proof.)

The dependent clause contains two predicate adjectives, "fragmentary" and "immediate" both of which are modified with adverbs of degree "too" which are themselves complemented by adverbial infinitive phrases that contain predicate nominatives, "stories" and "memories".

Thank you Ouyang.

What does "a complement of the verb" mean? It is still a plain old adverb that modifies thinks, correct?

the first adverbial prepositional phrase, "of them", is a complement of the verb

Same question here:

which are themselves complemented by adverbial infinitive phrases that contain predicate nominatives, "stories" and "memories".

The infinitive phrases (including their objects, memories and stories) are just adverbs modifying the adjectives framentary and immediate, correct?

Thanks again!

Donna

It's an adverbial phrase complement in the same way as "on the price" in "savings depends on the price" and "base the tax on the price". These prepositional phrases are considered complements because they are not entirely removable. We don't really say, "savings depends." and "base the tax." without prepositional phrases. They are thought of as completing rathern than modifying the verb.

There's a gray area of prepositional phrases which are removable, but have similar relationships with their verbs. Note that we can't say, "thinks as scenes". An adverb of manner usually has an adjunctive relationship with its verb. Whether it's an adjunct or complement, "of them" is an adverbial phrase.

As for the second clause, yes, I'm saying that "much too fragmentary to be stories" is a single adjective phrase with "fragmentary" as the head and the rest being adverbs.

Thanks, Ouyang, for your thoughts. You're a great teacher/tutor!

Donna