I have recently received a comment asking about the structure 'The significant percentage of work accomplished on the computer.'
This is not a sentence as it does not contain
a finite verb, but only the past participle ‘accomplished’. The actual
structure is a noun phrase containing a relative clause. However, the relative clause is not fronted by a relative pronoun, but by the past participle verb 'accomplished'.
The = determiner
(significant) percentage of = phrasal quantifier pre-modifying
the main noun
work = main noun
accomplished on the computer = relative clause fronted by a
non-finite past participle
The
subordinate structure ‘accomplished on the computer’ could have been written
‘which was accomplished’. Often in
English we elide the relative pronoun and auxiliary verb to use the non-finite
past participle in relative clause position.
So
the whole structure is a noun phrase: the main noun work is pre-modified and
also post-modified, but cannot stand on its own as a sentence. You can test this by inserting it into the
noun phrase position of sentences. For
example,
The significant percentage of work accomplished on the computer disproved the
theory. (SVO
structure with phrase in subject position)
The board approved
the significant percentage of work accomplished on
the computer. (SVO structure with phrase in object position)
The significant percentage of work was accomplished.
(SV- the auxiliary verb ‘was’ + past
participle ‘accomplished’ forms a passive verb.)
The significant percentage of work was accomplished.
(SVC with ‘accomplished acting as an
adjective in the complement position)
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