Pattern 4: subject + verb + complement

There are two clause patterns that look similar but which are in fact very different:

In sentence 1 the word grass is the object and the words elephant and grass refer to different things. In sentence 2 the word animals refers to the same thing as elephants. It completes the meaning of the subject. So it is described as the subject complement:

The complement

The subject complement of a simple sentence:

• comes after the verb
• is either
  - a noun or 'noun-like thing', or
  - an adjective (as in the sentence, Elephants are big.)
• refers to the same person thing or idea as the subject.

This type of clause uses a special type of verb, a linking verb. the commonest linking verb is be. Others are become and seem:

©John Seely 2008