In the sentence 'They elected her president,' what grammatical function does 'president' serve?
AA second direct object, because the sentence has two nouns after the verb
BAn object complement, because it renames 'her' as the result of being elected
CA subject complement, because it describes the overall outcome of the election
DAn indirect object, because it answers 'to whom' the honor was given
'President' is an object complement — it follows the direct object ('her') and describes the state she entered as a result of the action. The test is whether the complement describes what the direct object became or was deemed to be. Subject complements follow linking verbs and describe the subject; 'elect' is not a linking verb.
Question 2 Multiple Choice
A student writes 'It was her who called' in a formal essay. Their teacher marks it incorrect and writes 'It was she who called.' Why is the teacher right?
AThe teacher is applying an outdated rule; 'her' is now standard in all registers
B'She' is required because 'was' is a linking verb, and the pronoun that follows it is a subject complement, which takes the nominative case
C'She' is required because pronouns following 'who' must always be nominative
DBoth forms are equally correct; the teacher is enforcing an arbitrary preference
After a linking verb, the completing word is a subject complement that refers back to the subject — in this case 'it' (standing for the caller). Subject complements take the same case as the subject. Because 'it' is nominative, the subject complement must also be nominative: 'she,' not 'her.' The colloquial 'It was her' treats the pronoun as an object, which misidentifies the complement type.
Question 3 True / False
A predicate adjective after a linking verb describes the subject, while an object complement after a transitive verb describes the direct object.
TTrue
FFalse
Answer: True
This is the core structural distinction between the two types. 'She seems tired' — 'tired' is a predicate adjective (subject complement) describing 'she' after the linking verb 'seems.' 'They found the room empty' — 'empty' is an object complement describing 'the room' (the direct object) after the transitive verb 'found.' The difference turns on whether there is a direct object between the verb and the complement.
Question 4 True / False
The sentence 'She gave her friend a book' contains only one complement: the direct object 'a book.'
TTrue
FFalse
Answer: False
The sentence contains two complements: the indirect object 'her friend' (answering 'to whom?' the book was given) and the direct object 'a book' (answering 'gave what?'). This is the double-object construction. A common misconception is to miss the indirect object when it appears without a preposition — 'her friend' looks like another direct object but is not. The prepositional paraphrase ('gave a book to her friend') makes the two complements explicit.
Question 5 Short Answer
Why does the type of complement a verb takes matter beyond just grammatical labeling?
Think about your answer, then reveal below.
Model answer: Complement type determines how a verb can be used and what patterns are grammatically possible. Different verbs impose different patterns: 'make her happy' requires an object complement; 'seem happy' takes a subject complement. Misidentifying the complement type leads to errors in pronoun case — treating a subject complement as an object produces 'It was her' instead of the formally correct 'It was she.'
Understanding complement types is practical, not academic. Object complements and subject complements look similar (both follow a noun and describe it), but subject complements follow linking verbs and refer to the subject, while object complements follow transitive verbs and refer to the direct object. This structural difference governs pronoun case and determines which sentence patterns are grammatically well-formed.