xcomp: open clausal complement
An open clausal complement (xcomp) of a verb, or an adjective, is a predicative or clausal complement without its own subject. The reference of the subject is necessarily determined by an argument external to the xcomp (usually by the object, if there is one, or else by the subject of the next higher clause). This reference is often referred to as obligatory control, that is there should be no available interpretation where the subject of the lower clause may be distinct from the specified role of the upper clause (in case the subject may or must be distinct from the subject of the higher clause, ccomp should be used).
The predicates of these clauses appear always as a non finite verbs or participle, and they are core complements (arguments of the higher verb or adjective) rather than adjuncts/modifiers.
Evitate di parlare/VERB tra voi
xcomp(Evitate, parlare)
Sapeva di essere umile/ADJ .
xcomp(Sapeva, umile)
cop(umile, essere)
Abbiamo cercato di presentare/VERB una interpretazione diversa .
xcomp(cercato, presentare)
Quale ditta è accusata di aver sfruttato/VERB il lavoro minorile ?
xcomp(accusata, sfruttato)
The xcomp relation is also used in constructions that are known as secondary predicates or predicatives.
Il sindaco rende nota la consegna .
xcomp(rende, nota)
Lo smog risulta nocivo a la salute .
xcomp(risulta, nocivo)
Ogni fosso si presume comune .
xcomp(presume, comune)
Il caso è diventato un' emergenza .
xcomp(diventato, emergenza)
NB xcomp can be used only when the element is a core argument of a clausal predicate. If the element is not a core argument acl should be used. Consider the example below, where we have a case of double predication (Sono stati ritrovati. They were found. Erano sani e salvi. They were safe and sound). But sani e salvi is not a core argument of ritrovare: leaving it out will neither affect grammaticality nor significantly alter the meaning of the verb.
Sono stati ritrovati sani e salvi cinque americani
acl(ritrovati, sani)
cc(sani, e)
conj(sani, salvi)
Treebank Statistics (UD_Italian)
This relation is universal.
2126 nodes (1%) are attached to their parents as xcomp.
2104 instances of xcomp (99%) are left-to-right (parent precedes child).
Average distance between parent and child is 2.44026340545626.
The following 12 pairs of parts of speech are connected with xcomp: it-pos/VERB-it-pos/VERB (1272; 60% instances), it-pos/VERB-it-pos/ADJ (425; 20% instances), it-pos/VERB-it-pos/NOUN (317; 15% instances), it-pos/VERB-it-pos/PROPN (65; 3% instances), it-pos/VERB-it-pos/PRON (26; 1% instances), it-pos/VERB-it-pos/X (7; 0% instances), it-pos/ADJ-it-pos/VERB (5; 0% instances), it-pos/VERB-it-pos/NUM (3; 0% instances), it-pos/VERB-it-pos/SYM (3; 0% instances), it-pos/ADJ-it-pos/PROPN (1; 0% instances), it-pos/PROPN-it-pos/NOUN (1; 0% instances), it-pos/VERB-it-pos/ADV (1; 0% instances).
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1 " " PUNCT FB _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No
2 La il DET RD Definite=Def|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|PronType=Art 3 det _ _
3 Pivetti Pivetti PROPN SP _ 5 nsubj _ _
4 ha avere AUX VA Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 5 aux _ _
5 fatto fare VERB V Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _
6 benissimo bene ADV B Degree=Abs 5 advmod _ _
7 a a ADP E _ 8 mark _ _
8 decidere decidere VERB V VerbForm=Inf 5 xcomp _ _
9 di di ADP E _ 10 case _ _
10 testa testa NOUN S Gender=Fem|Number=Sing 8 nmod _ _
11 sua suo DET AP Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 10 det:poss _ SpaceAfter=No
12 . . PUNCT FS _ 5 punct _ _
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1 faccia fare VERB V Mood=Sub|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _
2 in in ADP E _ 3 case _ _
3 modo modo NOUN S Gender=Masc|Number=Sing 1 nmod _ _
4 che che SCONJ CS _ 6 mark _ _
5 sia essere AUX VA Mood=Sub|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 6 auxpass _ _
6 reso rendere VERB V Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 3 acl _ _
7 disponibile disponibile ADJ A Number=Sing 6 xcomp _ _
8 anche anche ADV B _ 6 advmod _ _
9 un uno DET RI Definite=Ind|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|PronType=Art 10 det _ _
10 canale canale NOUN S Gender=Masc|Number=Sing 6 nsubjpass _ _
11 olandese olandese ADJ A Number=Sing 10 amod _ SpaceAfter=No
12 . . PUNCT FS _ 1 punct _ _
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1 Così così ADV B _ 2 advmod _ _
2 diventa diventare VERB V Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _
3 first first NOUN S _ 2 xcomp _ _
4 lady lady NOUN S _ 3 compound _ SpaceAfter=No
5 . . PUNCT FS _ 2 punct _ _
xcomp in other languages: [bg] [cs] [de] [el] [en] [es] [eu] [fa] [fi] [fr] [ga] [he] [hu] [it] [ja] [ko] [sv] [u]