OBJECTS AND COMPLEMENTS AS THEMES
Apart from contrast, another motivation for thematizing direct objects is that of retrospective linking to something in the previous sentence or context:
Moussaka you ordered, and moussaka you’ve got.
Janet asked me to bring her some tea from London. This I did.
When subject complements are thematized they tend to occur as evaluative comments made spontaneously in context, often in response to another speaker. In each case, there is retrospective linking. Identifying clauses, such as The music was the best of all, are reversible. When reversed, as in 2, they look both backwards and forwards, linking to something just said, but also marking a shift to something new.
1 [How did the meeting go?] – A complete waste of time it was (Subject Complement. The unmarked order: It was a complete waste of time.)
2 [Was the festival a success?] Not bad. The best was the music. (reversed identifying clause from The music was the best.)
3 Fantastic I call it! (Object Complement. Unmarked order: I call it fantastic.)
