What Are Verb Complements?
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
What Are Verb Complements?
A complement in English grammar is a word, phrase, or clause that completes or adds essential meaning to another element in a sentence.
Consider the following:
Bart mowed the lawn on Sunday.
Kesha wrote a long letter to her best friend.
Camille loves ice skating.
These are examples of statements with a verb complement.
What Is a Verb Complement?
A verb complement is a word or group of words that completes or adds integral meaning to a verb. It may:
identify what or whom the action affects
identify or describe the subject or object
provide other information that normally follows the verb as determined by the verb (i.e., it establishes recognized verb patterns for conveying messages).
A verb complement is distinct from modifiers such as adverbs, which typically add optional information. Complements, by contrast, have a closer grammatical relationship with the verb.
Without them, the action in some sentences may feel incomplete or unclear:
Derek bought.
Brenda owed.
These clauses are grammatical, but they leave us with gaps of understanding. What did Derek buy? What did Brenda owe?
Derek bought a new shirt.
Brenda owed Martin the balance of the debt.
The underlined verb complements tell us much more by answering what (a new shirt, the balance of the debit) and to whom (Martin).
Verb Complements: Specific Types
Intrinsic components of verb complements can be categorized into four primary groups:
| direct object | subject complement |
| indirect object | object complement |
Direct object: Direct objects receive the action of a transitive verb; they are what is being acted upon. Direct objects can be a single noun, a phrase, or even a clause. They often answer who or what after the verb
Example: Derek bought a new shirt.
Indirect object: Noun or pronoun that precedes and receives the direct object, answering to whom or for whom after the verb
Example: Brenda owed Martin the balance of the debt.
Subject complement: Noun, pronoun, adjective, possessive noun or pronoun, or adverb indicating time or place, typically after a linking verb, that describes, identifies, or renames the sentence subject and completes the predicate
Example: That outfit looks wonderful.
Object complement: An adjective, adjective phrase, noun, noun phrase, pronoun, or pronoun phrase that follows an object and describes, identifies, or renames that object, completing the meaning of the predicate
Example: David called the policy his own.
Direct and indirect objects are types of verb complements, but not all verb complements are objects.
A verb complement is the broader category comprising these elements. Let’s reinforce this again:
Derek bought Martin (indirect object) a new shirt (direct object).
That outfit looks wonderful (subject complement; no objects in the sentence).
Before we move on, let’s review a complement that slightly veers from what we’ve been discussing:
The news made her cry.
At first glance, we might be inclined to interpret cry as an object complement. It is not, however. Remember that an object complement will be an adjective, adjective phrase, noun, noun phrase, pronoun, or pronoun phrase.
In this case, cry is technically operating as a bare infinitival complement related to the object her. Cry does not rename or describe her but rather expresses an action performed by her.
Verb Complements: Other Components
Now that we’ve discussed the main categories, let’s look at how other units of grammar can complete verb complements. Such other structures and forms might be prepositional phrases, infinitives, clauses, or gerunds.
Prepositional phrase: The plane landed on the lawn.
Infinitive: Dane chose to stay.
Clause: Sharisse believes that Paul is the most qualified.
Gerund: Melissa loves journaling.
In each case, we see how the structure or form adds important information or meaning to the verb to complete its intention. Consider each statement without the verb complement:
The plane landed.
Dane chose.
Sharisse believes.
Melissa loves.
Verb Complements: Avoiding Mistakes, Developing Mastery
The use of verb complements can sometimes include mistakes that might slip through as we continue increasing our mastery of English grammar.
In particular, some might appear where an individual might still be learning grammar basics. This can be mainly because not all English verbs operate the same way (e.g., transitive vs. intransitive verb, linking vs. action verb).
Recognizing common grammatical errors helps us communicate more precisely in English. In each incorrect sentence that follows, the verb complement is underlined, and the error is in bold.
Incorrect use of a subject complement: Hank feels badly about his mistake.
Correct: Hank feels bad about his mistake.Omitting needed complements: Stan put the hat.
Correct: Stan put the hat on his head.
(Here, the prepositional phrase “on his head” is a prepositional complement specifying where Stan put the hat. Rather than simply modifying “hat,” the phrase completes the meaning of the verb “put” by specifying the hat’s destination.)
We see that being familiar with verb complements strengthens our understanding of verb patterns and structures in English. For example, the native ear will recognize which sentence is standard:
We debated the topic.
We debated about the topic.
Both sentences contain a complement of the verb debated, but the first uses a direct object (the topic), while the second uses a prepositional phrase (about the topic). The first is the standard construction in daily formal English.
The first sentence is standard. However:
We had a debate about the topic.
Here, about the topic is a prepositional phrase modifying the noun debate. It identifies the subject or topic of the debate. Because debate is being used as a noun, the preposition about naturally introduces the topic.
By contrast, when debate is used as a verb, standard English normally uses topic as a direct object.
We also come to grasp what verb complements may or may not need in statements such as:
Stan put the hat.
Stan wore the hat.
The second sentence is whole: We may not need to know any more to understand it. In the first sentence, the verb “put” sets up a structure that needs more for clarity (e.g., “on his head”).
Through verb complements, we further distinguish proper patterns in well-constructed sentences. This allows us to develop greater dexterity in composing sentences with varied patterns and forms.
Kazuo wrote the paper.
Kazuo wrote about international trade.
Kazuo wants to write about international trade.
Kazuo is writing notes on his pad.
Related Topic
Verbing: When Nouns Become Verbs
Pop Quiz
Identify the verb complement in each sentence.
1. The weather is about as good as it’s going to get.
2. Are you going to the homecoming football game?
3. Use the can opener.
4. Ronan likes making custom china dolls.
Pop Quiz Answers
1. The weather is about as good as it’s going to get.
2. Are you going to the homecoming football game?
3. Use the can opener.
4. Ronan likes making custom china dolls.
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