Sentence Structure: Subject-Verb-Direct Object-Object Predicative

A subject - verb - direct object - object predicative sentence consists of a subject See the glossary definition , a complex transitive verb See the glossary definition , a direct object See the glossary definition and an object predicative See the glossary definition . The object predicative gives information about the object and may be a noun phrase See the glossary definition , an adjective phrase See the glossary definition , or (rarely) a wh-clause See the glossary definition

The subject in the sentence above is a one-word noun phrase - a personal pronoun. The direct object is also a personal pronoun. In these structures the indirect object almost always precedes the object predicative, as in this case. But see examples below where this is not true.

The relationship between the object and the object predicative may be of three types:

1. A current relationship (where nothing is changing): "I consider him a friend."
2. A resulting relationship (where change occurs): "The method got the students more interested in learning."
3. A naming function: "We call this process photosynthesis."

Here are a few more examples (click and drag to stop, start and find the sentence you wish to examine):

You can view an analysis of some of the noun phrases in the above examples in the animations below (click on Subject to view each noun phrase).

In the above example the object predicative is a noun phrase. This example has a naming function. Other naming verbs are "call", "elect", "nominate".

In the above example the object predicative is an adjective. In this example there is a current relationship between the object and the object predicative.

In the above example the object predicative is an adjective phrase. In this example there is a reuslting relationship between the object and the object predicative (previously ChatGPT wasn't available; after May 4, 2023 it was).

The above example is different. In this case the object predicative precedes the object (although you could equally reverse this). There are a few adjectives which, when used with the verb "make", allow the postponement of the direct object: "available", "plain", "possible", and "clear". Unlike the example above, the reason for this postponement is the length of the direct object; where it is quite long the direct object is postponed. The following are two examples:

• The human propensity for over-imitationsubject makescomplex transitive verb possibleobject predicative what anthropologists call cumulative culture: the long-term development of skills and technologies over generationsdirect object. (Wood 2020)

• Small cell sizessubject makecomplex transitive verb availableobject predicative previously unused radio frequenciesdirect object. (Branch 2018)

You can see further examples of this structure on the SVO_d P_o page and test yourself on the SVO_i O_d exercise page.