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THE COMPLEMENT OF THE OBJECT (Co) Syntactic and semantic features

المؤلف:  Angela Downing

المصدر:  ENGLISH GRAMMAR A UNIVERSITY COURSE

الجزء والصفحة:  P63-C2

2026-05-07

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THE COMPLEMENT OF THE OBJECT (Co)

Syntactic and semantic features

The Object Complement is the constituent that completes the predicate when certain verbs such as find, make and appoint lead us to specify some characteristic of the Direct Object. The Co is normally placed immediately after the direct object:

You (S) are making (P) me (Od) angry (Co).

There is typically number agreement between the Direct Object and the nominal group realizing the Object Complement, as in: Circumstances (S) have made (P) the brothers (Od) enemies (Co). But there are occasional exceptions – expressions of size, shape, color, height, etc.

You haven’t made the sleeves the same length.

The Object Complement can characterize the direct object by a qualitative attribute or by a substantive attribute expressing the name or status of the object referent.

Police found the suspects unwilling to cooperate. (qualitative)

They have elected Ken captain of the golf club. (substantive)

The burglars left the house in a mess. (circumstantial)

Sometimes a Co realized by a prepositional phrase (The burglars left the house in a mess) is similar in meaning to an adjectival complement (The burglars left the house untidy). We can distinguish its status as Complement from the superficially similar realization by an optional Adjunct (in five minutes in The burglars left the house in five minutes) by the intensive relationship linking the Od and its complement. This can be tested by paraphrase with be (The house was in a mess; *The house was in five minutes). The two meanings are dependent on the related meanings of leave: ‘leave something in a state’ and ‘go away from’, respectively.