Clause elements: Object and predicative

Is it too scary? It had got dark... -The book that Maria is reading consists of sentences, and the sentences are made up of clauses. Here is a clause: Maria is reading ghost stories. To find out how a clause is constructed, you can divide it into parts - the clause elements - and look at how they function. The most important parts are: the one that tells what is happening - the predicate, and the one that tells who or what the event is about - the subject.

In this clause Maria is the subject. The clause is about her, and she is doing what is described in the predicate. The predicate always contains at least one verb, and it describes what is happening. Here, the predicate is: is reading But...what element of speech is this? ghost stories A thing or person, that a subject is acting upon, is called an object.

In this clause it is something that Maria is reading, the thing being read. So, what is Maria reading? ghost stories This is the object of this clause. Usually, the object is the thing that the subject is doing something to, or with. Let’s look at some more clauses with objects.

Maria is reading ghost stories. Maria is reading a book. -Booh! -Maria is scaring Lingo. All of these clauses have the same subject, but different objects, To find the object in a clause you can ask: What, or who, is it that... subject, predicate Let’s try: What is it that Maria is reading? Ghost stories It seems to work.

Let’s try this with another sentence. Who is it that Maria is scaring? Lingo! Object. Some verbs always need an object.

is scaring Scaring is such a verb. You always scare someone. That person is then the object. Other verbs don’t need an object, but can sometimes have one. Maria is reading.

Maria is reading a book. That’s how most verbs work. But some verbs need two objects Maria gives Lingo the book. These are often verbs about giving something to someone, or doing something for someone. The receiver, the one being given to, we call an indirect object.

and the thing being given is called the direct object. Lingo gives Maria the book. What’s happening here? Lingo gets scared. ...but wait. scared Is that an object?

An object is something that the subject does something to, right?. But not here. No. Look at these words: is, gets, is called, is named This kind of predicate needs to be completed by another clause element. A predicative, or predicative expression.

A predicative describes someone, says what they are, what they’re becoming, or what they’re called. Here are some more sentences with predicative expressions The dog is a large, furry Afghan hound with soft paws. The dog is called Diva. The alien is named Lingo. Objects and predicatives can look alike, but they have different functions in a clause.

The object is the thing the subject does something to, or with. The predicative says something about the subject or the object. The room was dark A predicative. They heard footsteps. Object...