Page 74 - Perfect English Grammar: The Indispensable Guide to Excellent Writing and Speaking
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■ The caterpillar became a moth.—Moth is the subject complement.
An object complement, usually a noun or adjective or words behaving like
one, refers to a direct object (see section 5.3, Objects).
■ They painted the bike shed blue.—Bike shed is the direct object, and
blue is the object complement.
■ Customers called the product “unobtainium” and the name stuck.
—Product is the direct object and unobtainium is the object
complement.
A verb complement supplements the understanding of another verb. In
1.other words, one verb is the object of the others. We do this three ways: With
noun clauses:
He knew she had finished.—She had finished is the verb
complement to knew.
2. With infinitives: I want to finish this.—To finish this is the verb
complement to want.
3. With gerunds:
I thought swimming in the dark would be fun.—Swimming in the
dark is a verb complement to thought.
