LessonsRhetorical States of Verbal Complements: Omission, Mention and PreposingQuiz

«وَلَوْ شِئْتُ أَنْ أَبْكِيَ دَمًا لَبَكَيْتُهُ»
If I wished to weep blood, I would indeed do so.

Here “shiʾtu” (I wished) is followed by “an abkiya daman,” which explicitly identifies the content of the wish. It must not be analyzed exactly like a conditional in which the verb’s complement is wholly unexpressed.

The comparison teaches a basic method: decide whether a complement is present from the actual wording of each sentence, not from a rule mechanically applied to every occurrence of the verb “to wish.”

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An expressed complement after “wish”

Rhetorical States of Verbal Complements: Omission, Mention and Preposing

«وَلَوْ شِئْتُ أَنْ أَبْكِيَ دَمًا لَبَكَيْتُهُ»
If I wished to weep blood, I would indeed do so.

Here “shiʾtu” (I wished) is followed by “an abkiya daman,” which explicitly identifies the content of the wish. It must not be analyzed exactly like a conditional in which the verb’s complement is wholly unexpressed.

The comparison teaches a basic method: decide whether a complement is present from the actual wording of each sentence, not from a rule mechanically applied to every occurrence of the verb “to wish.”