Doesn't need anything between be-verb and to one's advantage?

Question

I saw a sentence with idiom "to one's advantage" in my textbook.

After that, It was obviously to my advantage.

When I saw this, I thought "why isn't there any complement after was?"

I thought Obviously and to my advantage were all adverb. But then where is complement of was?

Or is that was used as intransitive verb that means "exist"?

If then so, can I call that "Be + to N Phrase?"

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 25 '20 at 07:23

0

After that, it was obviously to my advantage.

The complement of "was" is obviously to my advantage.

Adverbs can certainly function as modifiers in copular verb phrases.

The natural analysis of your example has the adverb in bold as an adjunct in clause structure. Note examples like:

I was at that time extremely happy.

I was when I met her much happier than I had been for several years.

answered Jul 25 '20 at 07:23

BillJ

Great. So you mean it can be used as modifier if it doesn't appear to be adjunct then. – SG K Jul 25 '20 at 14:07
"Obviously" is an adjunct. It modifies the VP "was to my advantage". – BillJ Jul 25 '20 at 14:57
Yeah, I see that. Thanks for help! – SG K Jul 26 '20 at 00:48

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