3 The object

The object in a clause almost always has the form of an NP. Unlike the subject, it is
normally located within the VP.

3. 1 Distinctive syntactic properties of the object in English

There are a number of syntactic properties that make it fairly easy to identify in all but a
small minority of cases. The summaries:
a. An object is a special case of a complement, so it must be licensed by the verb.
b. With some verbs, the object is obligatory.
c. The object typically corresponds to the subject of an associated PASSIVE clause.
d. The object can nonnally take the form of a PRONOUN
e. The basic object position is IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE VERB.

3.2 Direct and indirect objects

There are two subtypes of object: direct and indirect objects. Are represent them as 𝑂𝑑
and 𝑂𝑖 when labelling examples. The two kinds may occur together, and when they co-
occur in canonical clauses, the indirect object precedes the direct object:

S P Oi Od S P Oi Od

Sue gave Max the photo I bought them Some shoes

The traditional labels 'direct' and 'indirect' are based on the idea that in clauses
describing an action the referent of the direct object is apparently more directly
involved in being acted on in the situation than the referent of the indirect object.

Syntactic distinction between direct and indirect object

FRONTED DIRECT OBJECT FRONTED INDIRECT OBJECT

Everything else, she gave him. Him, she gave everything else.

What did she buy him? Who did she buy these shoes ?

He kept the gifts They interviewed everyone

[which she had given him]. [whom she had given gifts].
What a lot of work he gave them! What a lot of them he gave work!

4 Predicative complements
A predicative complement commonly has the form of an NP, and in that case it contrasts
directly with an object (O).

4. 1 Syntactic differences between predicative complements and objects

a) PC can have the form of AdjP
Both O and Predicative Complement can have the form of an ordinary NP, but only
Predicative Complement can also have the form of an adjective phrase (AdjP):
PREDICATIVE COMPLEMENT OBJECT
He seemed a very nice guy He Met a very nice guy
He seemed very nice He Met very nice
 With seem, a very nice guy is PC and hence can be replaced by the AdjP very
nice.
 With meet, no such replacement is possible because a very nice guy is object.

b) Predicative complements can have the form of a bare role NP

A PC can have the form of a bare role NP, but an O can't:

PREDICATIVE COMPLEMENT OBJECT

She became the treasurer. She knew the treasurer.
She became treasurer. *She knew treasurer.

 treasurer is a bare role NP, so it is permitted with become, which takes a

Predicative Complement, but not with know, which takes an object.

c) Predicative complements does not correspond to the subject of a passive

clause
A typical object in an active clause corresponds to the subject of the passive
clause that has the same meaning. A PC shows no such relationship:

ACTIVE PASSIVE
i. a. Ed insulted a friend of mine. b. A friend of mine was insulted by Ed.
ii. a. Ed became a friend of mine. b. *A friend of mine was become by Ed.

 In [ia] afriend of mine is a direct object, and accordingly can be subject in a

passive clause with the same meaning, [ib].
 But in [iia], a friend of mine is a PC, and so there is no corresponding passive,
as evident from the ungrammaticality of [iib].
 d) Predicative complements can have the form of a nominative pronoun
 The point here is not that nominative case is required on pronouns in PC
function.
 So NPs in PC function can be accusative pronouns. What separates PC from O
, however, is that no matter whether you use nominative or accusative case on
PC pronouns, nominative case is absolutely impossible for O pronouns.
 This provides further evidence that English grammar distinguishes the PC and
O functions - though it is not as generally applicable a test as the other three,
because be is really the only verb that accepts these pronouns as predicative
complement.

4.2 Subjective and objective predicative complements

Most predicative complements are of this kind, but there is also a second kind in
which they relate to the object:

SUBJECT + SUBJECTIVE PC OBJECT + OBJECTIVE PC

a. Max seems highly untrustworthy. b. I consider lim highly untrustworthy.

 In the examples given so far the predicative complement relates to the subject. Most
predicative complements are of this kind, but there is also a second kind in which they
relate to the object.
 The element to which a PC relates is called its predicand. Where the predicand is
subject, the PC is said to be subjective, or to have subject orientation. Where the
predicand is object, the PC is said to be objective, or to have object orientation.

4.3 Ascriptive and specifying uses of the verb be

ASCRIPTIVE SPECIFYING
i. a. Mike was a loyal party member. b. The last person to leave was lane.
ii. a. What they gave me was useless. b. What they gave me was a gold pen.

In the ascriptive construction the predicative complement denotes a property that is

ascribed to the referent of the predicand. In the specifying construction there is a
relation of identity between the two elements.

 Ambiguities

I thought he was afriend of mine

1. In the first case, a friend of mine is ascriptive. I might be talking about

someone I had thought of as a friend but who let me down. The mistake was in
believing he had the properties one expects of a friend.
 2. In the second case, a friend of mine is specifying. Here I might be talking
about someone who looked like my old friend Bob, so I gave him a big hug, and
then realised that I was hugging a total stranger. The mistake in this case was
believing him to be Bob.

 Predicative complements with verbs other than be are ascriptive

With verbs other than be, predicative complements are almost always ascriptive.
And when we said in the discussion that predicative complements do not refer to
people or other kinds of participant in a situation, we were considering only the
ascriptive use: predicative complements of the specifying type can be referential.

 Syntactic differences

ASCRIPTIVE SPECIFYING
i.a. The next point is more serious. b. The one they arrested was Max.
ii.a. More serious is the next point. b. Max was the one they arrested.

• The most important concerns the effect of reversing the order of the
expressions in subject and predicative complement position.
• With the ascriptive construction it is often not possible to reverse the two
elements, but when reversal is acceptable the effect is merely to reorder them, not
to change their functions.