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.
The xcomp relation is also used in constructions that are known as secondary predicates or predicatives.
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.
xcomp in other languages: [bg] [bm] [cop] [cs] [de] [el] [en] [es] [eu] [fi] [fr] [fro] [ga] [gsw] [hy] [it] [ka] [kk] [la] [ml] [no] [pa] [pcm] [pt] [qpm] [ru] [sl] [ssp] [sv] [swl] [tr] [u] [vi] [xcl] [yue] [zh]