Predicative Subject and Object Complements
In many traditional grammars, the terms subject complement and object complement are employed to denote the predicative expressions (e.g. predicative adjectives and nominals) that serve to assign a property to a subject or object, e.g.
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- Larry is upset.
- Susan is the boss.
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- That made Fred lazy.
- We call Susan the boss.
Although widespread in school grammar, this use of terminology is not employed by many modern theories of syntax. The expressions in bold are viewed as part of the clause predicate, which means they are not complements of the subject or object, but rather they are properties that are predicated of the subject or object.
Read more about this topic: Complement (linguistics)
Famous quotes containing the words subject and/or object:
“Great Negative, how vainly would the Wise
Enquire, define, distinguish, teach, devise,
Didst thou not stand to point their dull Philosophies?
Is, or is not, the two great Ends of Fate,
And, true or false, the Subject of Debate,
That perfect, or destroy, the vast Designs of Fate,”
—John Wilmot, 2d Earl Of Rochester (1909–1969)
“Agreeable then to my present inclination, I formed the object of my own worship, which was no other than my own understanding.”
—Sarah Fielding (1710–1768)