The subject complement is the word (with any accompanying phrase) or clause that follows a linking verb (copula) and complements, or completes, the subject of the sentence by either (1) renaming it or (2) describing it. A word is a unit of Language that carries meaning and consists of one or more Morphemes which are linked more or less tightly together and has a Phonetic In Grammar, a phrase is a group of Words that functions as a single unit in the Syntax of a sentence. In Grammar, a clause is a word or group of words that consists of a subject and a predicate, although in some Languages and some types of According to a tradition that can be tracked back to Aristotle, every sentence can be divided in two main constituents, one being the subject of the sentence and the In Linguistics, a sentence is a grammatical unit of one or more words bearing minimal syntactic relation to the words that precede or follow it often preceded and followed The former, a renaming noun (or sometimes a pronoun), is technically called a predicate noun or predicate nominative (or in some cases, a predicate pronoun). In Linguistics and Grammar, a pronoun is a Pro-form that substitutes for a (including a noun phrase consisting of a single Noun) with or In traditional Grammar, a predicate is one of the two main parts of a sentence (the other being the subject, which the predicate modifies The nominative case is a Grammatical case for a Noun, which generally marks the subject of a Verb, as opposed to its object or other The latter, a describing adjective, is called a predicate adjective. In Grammar, an adjective is a word whose main syntactic role is to modify a Noun or Pronoun, giving more information about the
Subject complements are used only with a class of verbs called linking verbs or copulative verbs, of which to be is the most common. Unlike object complements, subject complements are not affected by the action of the verb, and they describe or explain the subject.
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Examples
Examples of sentences with subject complements:
The lake was a tranquil pool.
"Was" is a linking verb which links the subject complement (predicate noun modified by an adjective) "tranquil pool" to the subject "lake. "
The lake is tranquil.
"Tranquil" is a predicate adjective linked through the verb "is. "[1]
It's I/It's me
It sometimes is held that in the statement "It's I" (or "'Tis I"), "be" acts as a transitive verb and thus, I would be incorrect since it should be the object, and the objective case me should be used. An objective pronoun in Grammar functions as the target of a Verb, as distinguished from a Subjective pronoun, which is the initiator of a verb In fact, in terms of common usage, especially in informal speech, "It's me" is rather common.
However, many prescriptive grammarians frown upon this usage and regard it as a mistake. In Linguistics, prescription can refer both to the codification and the enforcement of rules governing how a language is to be used In this case, I is not affected by the action of the verb is, and it specifies exactly who the subject It is. In formal English, the subject complement therefore takes the subjective case. The nominative case is a Grammatical case for a Noun, which generally marks the subject of a Verb, as opposed to its object or other Usually, this makes no difference in the sentence because English nouns no longer distinguish between subjective and objective case. But English pronouns make the distinction, and the subject complement takes I instead of me. "It's I" sounds strange to many English speakers, but is considered correct by prescriptivists [1]. In other contexts, the subject complement may sound less strange, such as "This is she" rather than "This is her. "
Among older fiction writers, characters sometimes speak in an ungrammatical way, but an authorial note will then point this out. In "The Curse of the Golden Cross," G. K. Chesterton writes,
| “ | "He may be me," said Father Brown, with cheerful contempt for grammar. Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936 was an influential English writer of the early 20th century Father Brown is a fictional detective created | ” |
In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, C. S. Lewis writes,
| “ | "Come out, Mrs. The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe is a fantasy novel for children by C Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963 Beaver. Come out, Sons and Daughters of Adam. It's all right! It isn't Her!" This was bad grammar of course, but that is how beavers talk when they are excited. | ” |
One should say "who is it?", as opposed to the incorrect "whom is it?". This often causes confusion when explaining, as the more infrequent usage of "It's I", opting instead for "It's me" would imply that "me" is the object of the verb "to be", and therefore "whom" ought to be employed.
Perhaps the simplest example is the existential question "Who am I?" It shows both questions. It should be apparent to most that "Whom am I," "Who is me," and even worse, "Whom is me" are all incorrect.
At this point, the use of the subjective in the subject complement has almost entirely disappeared. Both usages are still current, but the use of subjective in the subject complement is much less common.
The use of a nominative complement "It is I" is by no means universal in other languages. For example, French-speakers say c'est moi (it's me) not c'est je. Here, moi is a disjunctive pronoun, or less technically, a stressed pronoun
See also
- Predicate (grammar)
- Predicative (adjectival or nominal)
- Clefting
- Copula
- Disjunctive pronoun
- Disputed English grammar
- English personal pronouns
References
External links
A disjunctive pronoun is a stressed form of a Personal pronoun reserved for use in isolation or in certain syntactic contexts In traditional Grammar, a predicate is one of the two main parts of a sentence (the other being the subject, which the predicate modifies In Grammar, a predicative is an element of the predicate of a sentence which supplements the subject or object by means of the verb This article pertains to linguistics For other uses see Cleft (disambiguation. A disjunctive pronoun is a stressed form of a Personal pronoun reserved for use in isolation or in certain syntactic contexts Disputed English grammar denotes disagreement about whether given constructions constitute correct English. The personal pronouns of English can have various forms according to gender, number, person, and case.Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic