Clausal Complements are not Adjuncts

The standard theory of clausal complementation, according to which a transitive verb and its complement always combine by Function Application, has recently been criticized on the grounds that it fails to account for the intuitive relationship between clause-taking verbs and their complements. An alternative theory, one that says that a clause-taking verb and its “complement” combine by Predicate Modification, has been embraced instead. This talk discusses a fundamental flaw in the clausal-complements-as-adjuncts theory.