About Complementary Adverbs:
Adverbs, in terms of positioning, are of two kinds:
1. Attributive adverbs
2. Complementary adverbs.
We can position the attributive adverbs only before the words, the adverbs describe.
We can position the complementary adverbs anywhere in the sentence, particularly after the words they describe or at the end of the sentence.
We can place some adverbs both as attributes (before the object) or complements (anywhere or at the end).
Complementary adverbs are often used to complete the meaning of the sentence, particularly after verbs of incomplete predication.
Example : He is well.
The 'well' , here describes the verb 'is'. Hence it is an adverb. It is complementary because it is placed at the end of the sentence.
We cannot , normally use well as an attributive adverb.
E.g. : He well did.
Improved : He did well.
Exceptions: Use of 'well' as prefix in compound-adverbs :
Example: well-done, well-written, well-prepared. The prefix 'well' is adverb because it describes the past participle-cum-adjective 'done'.
This compound word well-done becomes a compound-adjective, when placed before a noun and used as an attribute to describe it.
E.g. : well-written story, well-designed web-page, well-noted person etc.
'Well' is by and large, a complementary adverb.
We may, sometimes, be tempted to feel that well is an adjective.
E.g. He is well. Here 'well' is not qualifying the noun/subject 'he'.
The word 'is' has a Sanskrit origin 'asti'.
'Asti' indicates existence and state or status.
The words 'state or status' have their origin in the Sanskrit word 'sthiti'.
Many grammarians declare that 'is' is a verb of incomplete predication. That means, 'is' cannot complete a sentence meaningfully.
I, as a layman, feel that 'is' can complete the sentence.
Example: 'He is.'
The sentence here, I feel , is complete because it indicates that he exists. It indicates his state.
How is he means : how does he exist or how is his state/status/sthiti ?
Ans : 'well' describes his state.
Hence well is an adverb. It is a complementary adverb, because we do not place it before its object (verb/adjective/another adverb).
| Some complementary adverbs used by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in his "Scandel in Bohema" |
|---|
| 1. accomplished so delicately and successfully |
| 2. called myself is not exactly |
| 3. entered who could hardly |
| 4. examined it closely |
| 5. laughed heartily |
| 6. looked impatiently |
| 7. paused immediately |
| 8. turned hungrily |
| 9. walked swiftly |
| 1. A man____have been less than six feet six inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. |
| 2. A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and in the passage,____utside the door. |
| 3.From time to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, and finally of the mission which he had____for the reigning family of Holland. |
| 4.He____and in silence for some few minutes until we had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the Edgeware Road. |
| 5.Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and____y at his gigantic client. |
| 6.I walked round it and____y point of view, but without noting anything else of interest. |
| 7.Now, he said as he____on the simple fare that our landlady had provided, I must discuss it while I eat, for I have not much time. |
| 8.Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in front of the fire and____r some minutes. |
| 9.The august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have just____t exactly my own. |
Notes: 'Exactly' in the last sentence is not a complementary adverb because it describes 'my own'. We are getting 'exactly' before its object 'my own'. Hence 'exactly' is attributive here.
e.g. of complementary use of the adverb 'exactly' :
He calculated exactly.
