CORRECT USE OF THE ARGUMENT
Arguments must be distinguished from adjuncts. While a predicate needs its arguments to complete its meaning
What arguments are involved in any situation is determined by the meaning of the predicate.
The nature of the arguments is also largely determined by the meaning of the predicate.
Example:
- Harold hit Henry
- Sam saw Simon
In the first case, Harold is the one doing the hitting and Henry is the one getting hit whereas in the second Sam does the seeing and Simon gets seen. However, these arguments play very different roles in the two events. With hit the one doing the hitting consciously performs an action and the one who gets hit is affected in some way by this.
Just like verbs, some adjectives express a relationship between two arguments:
- Fred is fond Fiona
- Kevin is keen on karate
In these examples we see two arguments being related by an adjective:
And nouns can be used to express relationships between two or more arguments:
Picasso's painting of petunias