Complete Grammar Guide & Interactive Answer Key
What Is a Complement? • Identifying Direct Objects & Indirect Objects • Interactive Self-Check
What Are Complements, Direct Objects, and Indirect Objects? (Rules 2g–2i)
A complement is a word or word group (a noun, pronoun, or adjective) that completes the meaning of a verb. When a sentence contains a transitive action verb, its meaning is completed by a direct object and sometimes an indirect object:
Examples: Judith Baca created the mural. • Seiji Ozawa became a successful conductor. • The horse seems skittish.
Examples: The employer interviewed several applicants. • Did the car need brakes, belts, and a battery?
Examples: The Swedish Academy awarded Octavio Paz the 1990 Nobel Prize in literature. • Clarice wrote me a letter.
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Important Notice for Students, Parents, and Educators: This comprehensive grammar guide and interactive answer key is published strictly for educational help, academic support, self-checking, and concept mastery—NOT for cheating or copying homework. Study the rules on complements, direct objects, and indirect objects below, solve Exercise 5 independently first, and then click Click to Show Answer below each item to check your work.
Complete Lesson Explanation: Complements, Direct Objects & Indirect Objects (Rules 2g–2i)
1. Complements (Rule 2g)
Rule 2g: A complement is a word or word group that completes the meaning of a verb.
Some verbs do not need a complement to complete their meanings; together, the subject and the verb express a complete thought (e.g., "She won." or "Look!" where the understood subject is you). Often, however, a sentence requires one or more complements for the meaning of the verb to be complete:
{alertInfo}Tips & Tricks (Spelling & Clause Structure):
• Complement vs. Compliment: Remember the difference in spelling between complement (the grammar term) and compliment (an expression of affection or respect) by remembering that a complement completes a sentence!
• Subordinate Clauses Also Have Complements: Both independent and subordinate clauses contain subjects, verbs, and sometimes complements (e.g., "When we [S] attend [V] hockey games [C], my sister [S] and I [S] cheer [V] loudly for our home team.")
{alertWarning}Two Things That Are NEVER Complements (Adverbs & Objects of Prepositions):
1. Adverbs Are Not Complements: In "Hatshepsut ruled ably," the adverb ably modifies the verb ruled (telling how), so the sentence has no complement. By contrast, in "Hatshepsut ruled Egypt during the early fifteenth century B.C.," the noun Egypt receives the action and is a complement.
2. Objects of Prepositions Are Not Complements: In "At first Hatshepsut ruled with her husband," the noun husband is the object of the preposition with. The sentence does not contain a complement!
2. Direct Objects (Rule 2h)
Rule 2h: A direct object is a complement that tells who or what receives the action of a verb or shows the result of the action.
A direct object may be a noun, a pronoun, or a word group that functions as a noun. To find a direct object, ask Whom? or What? after a transitive verb:
3. Indirect Objects (Rule 2i)
Rule 2i: An indirect object is a complement that often appears in sentences containing direct objects and that tells to whom or to what or for whom or for what the action of a transitive verb is done.
An indirect object may be a noun, a pronoun, or a word group that functions as a noun. To find an indirect object, first find the direct object, and then ask To whom? or To what? or For whom? or For what? after the transitive verb:
— OBJECT OF PREPOSITION: Clarice wrote a letter to me. (The pronoun me is the object of the preposition to.)
— INDIRECT OBJECT: Clarice wrote me a letter. (Here me comes directly between the verb and direct object with no preposition.)
{alertSuccess}HELP Note — Common Verbs That Take Indirect Objects: Transitive verbs that frequently take both an indirect object and a direct object include ask, get, give, grant, hand, lend, make, offer, pay, send, show, teach, tell, and write. Remember: a sentence cannot have an indirect object unless it also has a direct object!
Exercise 5: Identifying Direct and Indirect Objects (Items 1–10)
Directions: Identify each direct object and indirect object in the following sentences. (Note: Not every sentence in Exercise 5 has an indirect object. In the answers below, indirect objects are double-underlined and direct objects are single-underlined, matching the Teacher's Edition.)
Answer: 1. visitors—indirect object; design—direct object
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- proof — direct object (Answers "provide what?" → proof. There is no indirect object in this sentence.)
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- me — indirect object (Tells for whom the graph is to be made.)
- graph — direct object (Tells what is to be made.)
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- you — indirect object (Tells for whom the neighbor would write a recommendation.)
- recommendation — direct object (Tells what the neighbor would write.)
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- us — indirect object (Tells to whom the tree gave the bushels.)
- bushels — direct object (Tells what the tree gave; note that of fruit is a prepositional phrase modifying bushels.)
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- wingspans — direct object (Answers "had what?" → wingspans. There is no indirect object.)
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- Greg, Wesley, Carol — compound indirect object (Tells to whom the story is to be told.)
- story — direct object (Tells what is to be told.)
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- flavors — direct object (Answers "absorbs what?" → flavors. There is no indirect object.)
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- lives — direct object (Answers "lived what?" → lives. There is no indirect object.)
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- worms — direct object (Answers "will be serving what?" → worms. There is no indirect object.)
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- people — indirect object (Tells to whom technology has brought opportunities.)
- opportunities — direct object (First direct object receiving the action of has brought.)
- others — indirect object (Indefinite pronoun telling to whom technology has brought an end.)
- end — direct object (Second direct object receiving the action of has brought.)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
In Item 10 ("Technology has always brought some people [i.o.] new opportunities [d.o.] and others [i.o.] an end [d.o.] to their way of life"), the transitive verb phrase has brought governs two parallel indirect-object + direct-object pairs joined by the coordinating conjunction and.
In the phrase "over ten bushels of fruit," the word fruit is the object of the preposition of. Because the object of a preposition is never a complement, the noun bushels is the direct object receiving the action of the verb gave.
While live is often intransitive (e.g., "lived in the desert"), in English a verb like live can take a cognate direct object that repeats its meaning—as in "lived prosperous lives" (lived what? lives).