In grammar, a subject complement is a predicative expression that follows a linking verb (copula) and that complements (completes) the subject of the sentence by either (1) renaming it or (2) describing it. In the former case, a renaming noun phrase such as a noun or pronoun is called a predicative nominal. An adjective following the copula and describing the subject is called a predicative adjective. In either case the predicative complement in effect mirrors the subject. Subject complements are used with a small class of verbs called linking verbs or copula, of which be is the most common. Since copula are stative verbs, subject complements are not affected by any action of the verb. Subject complements are typically not clause arguments, nor are they clause adjuncts.
Read more about Subject Complement: Examples, Other Languages, Disputed Pronoun Forms
Famous quotes containing the words subject and/or complement:
“Thy spotless Muse, like Mary, did contain
The boundless Godhead; she did well disdain
That her eternal Verse employ’d should be
On a less subject than Eternitie;”
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“There may be as much nobility in being last as in being first, because the two positions are equally necessary in the world, the one to complement the other.”
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