Here's the SAT sentence that raised my curiosity:
Strong wind, sweeping almost unchecked over great distances, is
a prime component of the grassland climate.
Although I know the sentence above is indeed the standard way of expression, I am wondering why shouldn't "unchecked" be replaced by an adverb.
I have done some research and someone suggested that "unchecked" is acting as a complement. If he is right, would anyone please indicate which kind of complement it belongs to and when it is correct to use as above?
I also found this on the Internet. According to The Guide to Grammar and Writing:
When the participle of an absolute phrase is a form of to be, such as being or having been, the participle is often left out but understood.
Does this help explain my sentence?
Thanks in advance. (I am not a native speaker so please forgive me for possible grammar mistakes in this post.)
Best Answer
If you change the above sentence to
it is easier to understand.
"unchecked" complements the subject wind at the time it sweeps. That's why it could be called either "predicative-complement" or "quasi-complement". The sentence could be rephrased to
The more obvious examples are as follows;
Happy complements the subject when she came home. That's why you don't use "happily".