The Subjective Complement, Objective Complement, and Infinitive Complement.

When a Verb of Incomplete Predication is Passive or Intransitive, the Complement of the Predicate (if it be an Adjective or a Substantive) stands in the Predicative relation to the Subject of the sentence, as, 'He was called Cunctator,' 'I feel ill, The wine tastes sweet.' This kind of complement may be called the Subjective Complement, as it is closely connected with the Subject of the sentence.

When the Complement of the Predicate stands in the Attributive relation to the Object of the Verb, as 'He painted the shutters green,' 'I made him my heir,' 'We call that strip of sea the Solent,' this kind of complement may be termed the Objective Complement, inasmuch as it is closely connected with the Object of the Verb.

The third kind of complement is that which follows such Verbs as can, will, must, etc.—as, 'I can read,' 'We must wait,' 'He will succeed.' This may be termed the Infinitive Complement, or Complementary Infinitive. The Object of the

sentence is often attached to the dependent Infinitive.

The 'Object of the Sentence' and the 'Extension' of the Predicate.

1. If the Predicate of a sentence be a Transitive Verb, it may be followed by a Noun, or its equivalent, in the Objective Case (the Direct Object), which is commonly called the Object of the Sentence. Strictly speaking, the function of

this Noun is Adverbial.

EXAMPLES OF THE DIRECT OBJECT. 'She walks the waters like a thing of life.' 'Survey our empire and behold our home.' 'Woodman, spare that tree.'

2. A Predicative Verb, besides the Object, may have any kind of Adverbial Adjuncts attached to it. In such cases it is often said to be Extended or Enlarged. This phraseology also is

This is sometimes called the Completion of the Predicate. The terminology of different Grammars varies considerably.

liable to criticism, inasmuch as the meaning of the Predicate is limited or restricted rather than enlarged by the addition of these adjuncts.

Certain grammarians, therefore, instead of employing this expression (now common), prefer to speak of Adverbial Adjuncts of the Predicate, since it is only by an expression in the nature of an Adverb that the Predicate can be qualified or 'extended.' These Adverbial Adjuncts have been already enumerated in our explanation of the 'Adverbial Relation,' but may again be mentioned here :

ADVERBIAL ADJUNCTS (OR EXTENSIONS) OF THE PREDICATE The Predicate may take any of the following:

One kind of Adverbial Adjunct may often be replaced by

another, as

= He acted in a noble manner. This being granted, the proof is easy =

He acted nobly

the proof is easy.

Object.

If this be granted,

The Direct Object after a Transitive Verb, although its function in the sentence is Adverbial, is distinguished, we have said, from all other Adverbial Adjuncts, and is called the Object of the Sentence, or, more briefly, 'The Object.' The Object of a sentence may be

1. A Noun, as—

The wise love knowledge.

2. A Pronoun, as—

All admire him.

3. A Verb in the Infinitive, as—

I love to pause and ponder on the scene.

4. A Verbal Noun or Gerund, as—

I like skating. He fears leaving his country.

5. Any word or phrase, used as the name of itself, as— Define Apposition.

6. A quotation, as

He said, 'Soldiers strike the face.

The Psalmist writes, 'I will not fear though the earth be moved.

7. A Substantive Clause, as—

We hear that the list will be published to-morrow

The Object, like the Subject, may be either Simple, Compound, or Complex. These distinctions are the same as in the case of the Subject.

There is also a peculiar kind of Complex Object, in which a Substantive Clause is replaced by a Substantive followed by a Verb in the Infinitive Mood. Thus, for 'I wish that this news may be true,' we may have 'I wish this news to be true;' for 'I believe that the prisoner is guilty,' we may have 'I believe the prisoner to be guilty. In such sentences as 'I saw him fall,' 'I heard the cock crow,' the construction is of the same kind. It is analogous to that of the Accusative with the Infinitive in Latin.

The Object of a Verb, and the Complement of a Predicate, may have any combination of Attributive Adjuncts attached to them. If the Object be an Infinitive Mood or a Gerund, it may have an Object or an Adverbial Adjunct attached to itself, as, 'I like studying problems;' 'He objects to work in the heat of the day.'

Complex Sentences.

A Complex Sentence is one which, besides a principal Subject and Predicate, contains one or more subordinate clauses which have Subjects and Predicates of their own.

Subordinate Clauses are of three kinds, viz.—

Substantive Clauses.

Adjective Clauses.

Adverbial Clauses.

A Substantive Clause is a subordinate sentence, which, as it performs the office of a Noun, may be regarded as a Compound Noun, e.g.—

Where-he-was-born cannot now be ascertained = The place of his birth cannot, etc.

When-I-shall-set-out is uncertain = The time of my departure is uncertain.

I know that he-is-a-rogue I know him to be a rogue. Thus a Noun Sentence or Substantive Clause can generally be exchanged for a Noun qualified by certain attributes.

An Adjective Clause is simply a complex Adjective as regards its form. Its function, looking at the whole sentence, is merely that of the ordinary Adjective, e.g.—

This is the house that-Jack-built.

That, that is, is (Shakespeare).

I slew the villain whom-you-admire.

They burnt the town wherein-I-dwelt.

An Adverbial Clause.-When a sentence is attached to another sentence to perform the office of an Adverb, it is called an Adverbial Clause.

My father died when-I-was-born.
I am as cold as-ice-[is].

Joseph is sorry because-I-am-angry.
He behaved as well as-he-could.

It is often forgotten that Adverbial Clauses modify Adject· ives and Adverbs as well as Verbs.

Another Definition.-We may, it we choose, vary our definition of a Complex Sentence, and say: 'A Complex Sentence is produced whenever the place of a Substantive, an Adjective, or an Adverb, is supplied by a Substantive Clause, an Adjective Clause, or an Adverbial Clause.'

Compound Sentences.

When two or more sentences of equal grammatical importance are linked together, each member is called a Co-ordinate Sentence, and the whole thus formed is called a Compound Sentence, as, 'He is rich, but I am not ;' 'One is a lawyer, and the other a man of letters;''They toil not, neither do they spin;' 'Either you have forgotten, or the thing never happened.' Co-ordinate clauses are grammatically independent of each other, whereas every subordinate clause is a component part of some other clause or sentence. They are either simply coupled together (as, You are lazy, and your brother is industrious'), or coupled and at the same time opposed to each other (as, 'He is not clever, but he studies hard").

The co-ordinate members of a Compound Sentence may themselves be Complex Sentences.

The Conjunction itself does not enter into the construction of the clause which it introduces.

Contracted Sentences.

When Co-ordinate Sentences contain either the same Subject, the same Predicate, the same Object, the same Complement, or the same Adverbial Adjunct to the Predicate, it often happens that the portion which they have in common is expressed only once. In this case the Sentence is said to be contracted.

Examples

'Neither I nor you have seen Italy,' i.e. Neither I [have seen Italy] nor you have seen Italy;' 'He loved not wisely, but too well, i.e. He loved not wisely, but [he loved] too well.' In these Contracted Sentences the Predicate is expressed only once.

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He works judiciously, and succeeds admirably,' i.e. 'He works judiciously, and [he] succeeds admirably.' He studied successfully, and got a degree, i.e. 'He studied successfully, and [he] got a degree;' Intemperance weakens and destroys

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