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In grammar, complements are words, phrases, or clauses that are essential to complete the meaning of a given expression. Here, we will study them thoroughly!
What Are Complements?
Complements: Types
Generally, there are two major kinds of complements. Take a look at the following list:
Now, take a look at the following examples:
Money is
I caught my friend
Now, let us examine each separately:
Subject Complements
Subject complements (also known as predicative nominative and predicative adjectives) provide necessary information about the subject of the clause. They can be nouns, pronouns, or adjectives, and always appear after a linking verb. Study the following examples carefully:
Kim is a
As you can see, 'cartographer' is about the subject and if we remove it, the sentence will be incomplete.
They became
The structure below shows the order of the elements of a clause that contains a subject complement:
Subject + verb + subject complement
Subject complements can be classified into four subgroups:
- Predicative Nouns
- Predicative Pronouns
- Predicative Adjectives
- Predicative Prepositional Phrase
In this lesson, we are going to learn about 'predicative nouns' and 'predicative adjectives'.
Predicative Nouns
Predicative nouns rename or describe the subject of a clause. They always follow a linking verb. Let us take a look at some examples:
Life becomes
Christianity is
Predicative Adjectives
When we want to modify the subject, we use predicative adjectives. These adjectives always follow a linking verb. Take a look at the following examples:
Her novel was
This ice cream tastes
Object Complements
When we want to add information to the direct object of the clause, we use object complements. Take a look at the following examples:
He made me
I called her
The structure of a sentence that contains an object complement is as follows:
Subject + verb + direct object + object complement
Object complements can be nouns, adjectives, relative clauses, infinitives, or gerunds. Below, we are going to discuss some of them:
Nouns and Noun Phrases
There is a specific group of verbs that can take an object complement. They are known as factitive verbs and indicate the result of the action. Below is a list of some common factitive verbs:
- Make
- Appoint
- Choose
- Select
- Judge
Now, check out the following examples:
She made her friends
The manager appointed her
Adjectives and Adjective Phrases
We can use adjectives or adjective phrases to describe or modify direct objects. Take a look at the following examples:
She made me
As you can see, an adjective phrase has been used to modify the direct object.
The painter painted Anne's room
Infinitives and Infinitive Phrases
We can also use an infinitive or infinitive phrase to modify a direct object. Study the following examples carefully:
I didn't ask him
She chose her sister
Tip!
The only difference between adjuncts and complements is that adjuncts are used when we want to add extra information to the sentence, while complements are necessary and complete the meaning of the sentence. Compare the following examples:
I named the baby
Here, 'Sheila' is a complement because without it, the sentence will be incomplete.
I quit going to the gym
As you can see, if we remove 'long ago', the sentence would still be meaningful.
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