Complements Predicate Nominatives, Predicate Adjectives, Direct Objects, and indirect objects

Definition Sometimes in order to express a complete thought, a sentence needs more than a subject and a verb. Complements are nouns, pronouns, or adjectives that help complete the meaning of a verb. Noun – Mr. Barnes (subject) ate (verb) dinner (complement). Pronoun – Jake (subject) dropped (verb) all (complement) of the books. Adjective – That woman (subject) is (verb) absolutely gorgeous (complement).

Complements Complements are NEVER adverbs. Ex. My brother eats very quickly. – Even though the word “quickly” tells us more about the verb in the sentence, it is an adverb, not a complement. Complements are NEVER in prepositional phrases. Ex. Jake dropped all of the books. – Even though Jake dropped the books, the complement is the pronoun “all” because “books” is the object of the preposition “of.”

Subject Complement A subject complement is a word or word group that tells the reader more about the subject of a sentence. These require a sentence to have a linking verb, not an action verb. Jeremiah is (linking verb) today’s big winner. The boy with the huge bag of candy feels (linking verb) sick to his stomach.

Subject Complements Predicate Nominative – a noun or pronoun that IDENTIFIES the subject or refers to it. EXAMPLE: Chuck Norris is a real man. Predicate Adjective – an adjective that MODIFIES/DESCRIBES the subject. EXAMPLE: Chuck Norris is manly. NOTE: Adjectives that describe predicate nominatives are NOT predicate adjectives. Chuck Norris is a tough guy. (“guy” is a predicate nominative, but “tough” is describing “guy,” not “Chuck Norris,” the subject of the sentence.

Objects Objects are complements that do NOT refer to the subject, but follow transitive action verbs. Objects are nouns or pronouns that receive the action of the verb in some way. Physical action – Chuck Norris kicked my head. Mental action – You would not believe my story.

Direct Objects DOs are nouns or pronouns that tell who or what receives the action of a verb in a sentence. The “formula” is as follows: Subject + Action Verb + “whom/what”? = DO Example: Because I was rude, the older woman slapped me in the face. “woman” (subject) + “slapped” (action verb) + “whom/what”? ANSWER = “me” – Therefore, “me” is the DO of the sentence. NOTE: Objects of prepositions can NEVER be direct objects, which is the reason that “face” is NOT the DO of the above sentence. The large dog ate all of its food. – What is the DO of this sentence?

Indirect Objects Like DOs, IOs are also nouns or pronouns that can appear in sentences with action verbs; however, IOs can ONLY exist in sentences with DOs. The indirect object literally receives the direct object. Example: The man gave the waiter a tip. The “waiter” receives a “tip,” which is the DO of the sentence; therefore, the IO is “waiter.” Example: I sang my mother a song. Example: I loaned my brother my car. Example: Tim shipped the package to his ex-girlfriend.

Objective Complements Objective Complements are nouns, pronouns, adjectives, or groups of words that modify a direct object. Ex: I consider Jane my closest friend. Ex: They made me leader of the group. Ex: We painted the house green. Not many verbs take an objective complement. The verbs consider, make, and any verbs that can replace these verbs (call, find, believe, elect, paint) take OCs. Don’t confuse objective complements and DO’s and IO’s!