LoginVerb Complements
In this lesson, master verb complements, which are essential parts of a sentence that complete the meaning of a verb. Clear explanations and practice exercises to help you learn.
What Are Verb Complements?
A verb complement is a word or phrase that completes the meaning of the verb. The verb complement typically receives or is affected by the action of the verb or completes a description offered by the verb.
Verb Complements: Types
There are five types of verbs complements in English based on the function they fulfill in the sentence:
Direct Objects
A direct object directly receives the action of the verb in a sentence. The easiest way to locate a direct object is to find the verb and ask the question what? or whom?
He was eating a hamburger.
He was eating what? A hamburger. So, 'a hamburger' is the direct object.
She knows everybody!
She know whom? Everybody. So, 'everybody' is the direct object.
Indirect Objects
An indirect object is used before the direct object of a ditransitive verb to show who or what is affected by the action of the verb; in other words, it specifies to or for whom or what the action of the verb is performed. Look at the examples:
She cooked us dinner.
Here, 'us' is the indirect object for whom the action is done, while 'dinner' is the direct object which is the thing that receives the action of the verb (cooked).
I owe him some money.
In most cases, the indirect object can move after the direct object, but in this case, it needs a preposition like "to" or "for" and turns into an object of preposition. Compare the examples:
indirect + direct object | direct object + indirect object with preposition |
|---|---|
The postman gave me the letter. | The postman gave the letter to me. |
He bought me a drink. | He bought a drink for me. |
Tip!
An object can only be indirect if there is already a direct object in the sentence. If a sentence only has one object, that object is definitely a direct object, not indirect.
Object of a Preposition
The object of a preposition is a verb complement that connects to the verb by a preposition and forms a prepositional phrase. For example:
She referred to the book.
They accused him of theft.
Subject Complements
Subject complements come after linking verbs to describe the subject of the verb. They can be pronouns, noun phrases, noun clauses, adjectives, or adverbs.
Her idea sounds interesting.
adjective
My dream is to travel the world.
noun clause
The keys are on the table.
locative adverb
Object Complements
Object complements come after complex transitive verbs to attribute a quality to the object of the verb. They can be noun phrases, adjectives, prepositional phrases, and adverbs.
We consider him a genius.
a noun phrase
The joke made him uncomfortable.
an adjective
She left him in a bad mood.
a prepositional phrase
Verb Complements: Characteristics
Verb complements typically share a number of characteristics in sentences, including their form, position in sentence, and correspondence with subject of passive sentences.
Form
Pronouns, noun phrases, and noun clauses can act as the direct or indirect object or the object of preposition in the sentence. Subject and object complements, on the other hand, are less restricted in their form and can be pronouns, noun phrases and clauses, adjectives, adverbs, as well as prepositional phrases. Here are some examples:
I met him yesterday.
an object pronoun
She gave her best friend a history book.
"her best friend" is a noun phrase used as indirect object and "a history book" is a noun phrase used as direct object
She explained to her friends that she was tired of all the work.
"to her friends" is an object of preposition and the clause "that she was tired of all the work" is the direct object
The problem is that we ran out of time.
"that we ran out of time" is noun clause acting as a subject complement describing the noun phrase "the problem"
Position
In most sentences, the verb complement comes after the main verb of the sentence. Object complements, however, come after the object. For example:
They invited Lucy to their anniversary.
She forgot where she put her keys.
The news made her happy.
Exception
Sometimes, the verb complement can come at the beginning of the sentence for emphasis. This is called fronting. For example:
Such behavior we will not tolerate.
fronted noun phrase
How she managed to escape no one knows.
fronted noun clause
Him I owe my life to.
fronted object of preposition
By his side she remained.
fronted subject complement
There are also other cases where the verb complement is moved to the end of the sentence and an adverb separates it from the verb.
He explained in great detail how the experiment worked.
They described with enthusiasm their trip across Europe.
That book is indeed a classic.
Subject of Passive Sentences
One of the important characteristics of objects in English is that they correspond with the subject of passive sentences. This, however, does not hold true for subject and object complements. Look at the examples:
She writes a letter. (Active) → A letter is written by her. (Passive)
They have completed the project. (Active) → The project has been completed. (Passive)
Do All Verbs Take Verb Complements?
Not all verbs need a verb complement to form a complete sentence. There are different types of verb based on whether they need a complement or not:
Intransitive verbs do not take a verb complement.
Sarah laughed.
Linking verbs only take a subject complement.
He is a really nice guy.
Here, "a really nice guy" is not a direct object. It's a subject complement following the linking verb "is" and describing the subject "he."
Transitive verbs need one verb complement which is a direct object.
I ate pizza for dinner.
Complex transitive verbs take two verb complements, one of which is a direct object or object or preposition and the other an object complement.
I consider the matter of great importance.
In this sentence, "of great importance" is a prepositional phrase describing the object "the matter". Do not confuse it with an object of preposition.
Ditransitive verbs need two verb complements which are direct and indirect objects or objects of preposition.
He told his friend a secret.
Verb Complements: Possible Combinations
While transitive verbs can only take a direct object or an object of preposition as their complement and linking verb take only a subject complement, the five types of verbs complements can combine in different ways with ditransitive and complex transitive verbs.
Indirect object + Direct Object
She gave him the book.
Indirect object + Object of preposition
You remind me of my sister.
Direct object + Object of preposition
She gave the book to him.
Object of preposition + Object of preposition
They all looked to her for support.
Direct object + Object complement
We found the door locked.
Object of preposition + Object complement
I consider under the bed a strange hiding place.
Review
Verb complement are either direct objects, indirect objects, objects of preposition that receive the action of the verb or they are subject complements and object complements that help the verb complete a description.
There are different types of verbs based on whether they need a verb complement or not. Verbs that have a complete meaning without a complement are called intransitive verbs and verbs that need a direct object or object of preposition to have a complete meaning are called transitive verbs. Ditransitive verbs need two verb complements which are direct and indirect objects. Linking verbs take a single subject complement and complex transitive verbs take a direct object or object of preposition with an object complement.
My daughter slept well last night. → intransitive
I heard a noise from the basement. → transitive
We threw him a surprise party. → ditransitive
The test was unbelievably difficult. → linking verb
The committee named the project a success. → complex transitive
Quiz:
What is the indirect object in this sentence? "The librarian read the children a fascinating story."
The librarian
read
the children
a fascinating story
Fill the tables by selecting the type of the verb complement.
He is reading a book. | |
His proposal sounds promising. | |
She talked about the movie. | |
They named the dog Max. | |
He gave his friend a gift. |
Sort the words to form a sentence with a direct object and an object complement.
Match each sentence with the correct combination of verb complements.
Fill the blanks based on the information from the lesson. (There are two extra options.)
In the majority of sentences, the verb complement is positioned
the main verb.
One key feature of direct and indirect objects is that they can often become the
in a passive sentence.
In some cases, a complement may be moved to the
of the sentence for emphasis.
Linking verbs, which connect the subject to descriptive or identifying information, only require a(n)
.
Complex transitive verbs need two complements—one functioning as a direct object and the other a(n)
that further qualifies that object.
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