'Pollution affects the environment in many ways' - What part of the speech is 'in many ways'? [closed]

Pollution (S) affects (V) the environment (O) in many ways (?).

Is in many ways a complement?

Solution 1:

No, it is not a complement clause, but an adjunct clause:

Pollution (S) affects (V) the environment (O) | in many ways (?)

In many ways, is not a complement clause because they can be removed from the sentence and still remain grammatical:

(S) + (V) + (O) + (adjunct clause)

Complement clauses are selected by a verb and act as arguments which are necessary for the sentence to remain grammatical. Therefore, complement clauses are often described as a type of subordinate clause. If you want to read more about complement clauses, I have posted an answer to it here. I will be using the same grammar reference by Maggie Tallerman.

Understanding Syntax by Maggie Tallerman, pg. 92-93

Some embedded clauses are not selected by any verb, and instead are just optional modifiers rather than arguments:

(34)
a. Mel will be there [when she’s good and ready].
b. [If you’re leaving early], please get up quietly.
c. [Kim having left early], we drank her beer

The clauses shown in brackets are all ADJUNCTS, to use a term introduced in Chapter 2; this means that they are not obligatory. You can see this for yourself by removing them from (34); all the remaining sentences are fully grammatical. In traditional grammar, these optional subordinate clauses are known as ADVERBIAL CLAUSES. They add a very wide range of additional meanings, including information about time, location and manner, purpose, and reason or cause. The if-clause in (34b) is known as a CONDITIONAL clause.

Here are some further English examples of adjunct clauses:

(35)
a. Mel will come to work [aftter she gets paid].
b. [Because it was before dawn], we got up quietly.
c. We walked up the hill [(in order) to see the castle].
d. We walked up the hill [for Lee to see the castle].
e. We walked up the hill [so (that) Lee could see the castle].
f. [While shutting the window], I accidentally knocked over the flowers.

There are a number of points to note here. In English, and widely in other languages, adjunct clauses have just the same sorts of properties as complement clauses. They are often introduced by a complementizer. They may be finite or non-finite. Non-finite adjunct clauses sometimes have an overt subject (for Lee to see the castle) and sometimes only an understood subject (in order to see the castle; while shutting the window).

But the main difference between complement clauses and adjunct clauses has been highlighted since the first paragraph and will be in italicised bold.