Do you know what a subject complement is? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on subject complements, including its definition, usage, example sentences, and more!
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Kevin
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December 30, 2021
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Common Questions
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What is a subject complement?
According to Grammar Monster, a subject complement is a phrase or word that follows a linking verb and identifies, describes or renames the subject of the sentence. It can either be an adjective, a noun, or a pronoun. This is also called a subjective complement, or in traditional grammar, a predicate nominative or a predicate adjective. These predicate nominatives, a renaming noun phrase, can be adjective phrases, and must follow the action of the verb known as a linking verb, not an action verb or stative verbs, according to grammarians. This is different from an object complement, which would describe the object in a sentence in English grammar. The three types of subject complements are called predicate nouns, predicate adjectives, subject pronouns, and predicate pronouns. These modifiers provide further information about the meaning of the subject of a sentence.
Many different languages also contain words that mean subject complement. You may notice that some of these translations of subject complement look and sound similar to one another. These are called cognates, which are words and phrases in different languages that likely have the same root or language of origin, causing them to sound the same. The below list of translations of subject complement is provided by Word Sense.
- Finnish: nominatiivi, nominatiivinen
- Latin: nominativus (masc.)
- Armenian: ուղղական
- German: Nominativ, nominativisch
- Spanish: nominativo (masc.)
- Korean: 주격 (ju-gyeok, 主格)
- Catalan: nominatiu (masc.)
- Faroese: hvørfall
- Italian: nominativo (masc.)
- Russian: имени́тельный (masc.)
- Arabic: مرفوع
- Icelandic: nefnifall
- Estonian: nimetav
- French: nominatif (masc.)
- Romanian: nominativ
- Portuguese: nominativo (masc.)
- Greek: ονομαστική (fem.)
- Dutch: nominatief, noemer (masc.)
- Polish: mianujący, mianowanie (neut.)
- Swedish: nominativ
What are examples of subject complements?
A subject complement can be used in many different contexts in the English language. Trying to use a word or literary technique in a sentence is one of the best ways to memorize what it is, but you can also try making flashcards or quizzes that test your knowledge. Try using this term of the day in a sentence today! Below are a couple of examples of subject complement that can help get you started incorporating this tool into your everyday use. Take a look at the following sentences of subject complement examples from Thought Co and see how many you can identify the subject complement in!
- Rodney is a loser.
- The beer from the Huddleston venue tastes like watery garbage.
- They are best friends.
- This blanket was a gift from the movie premiere in New York.
- The upstairs tenant seemed a reliable person.
- Your room must be the one next to mine.
- Sometimes we’re on a collision course.
- The five pound note was for services rendered.
- The woman is studying to become a doctor.
- The venue for the meeting is the Roxburghe Hotel.
- Sandra is my mother’s name.
- My fourth-grade teacher was exceptionally kind.
- The director was giving a speech on her process for making the film.
- The light in the chapel was warm and soft.
- Mrs. Rigney was my fourth-grade teacher.
- Would you still love me if I were old and saggy?
- The distinction became quite clear.
- A university is a community of scholars.
- The estate car is a Volvo.
- The receptionist seemed very tired.
- The corridor is too narrow.
- You should be more careful.
What are other grammar terms?
There are many different literary and grammatical techniques and devices that you might see when you are reading prose or poetry. It is important to recognize these terms because they are always used for some purpose. Knowing these devices can help readers understand the author’s deeper meaning and why they are using such a device. Take a look at the below list of grammatical devices from OED and see how many you know! Then try researching ones that are unfamiliar to you.
- participle | past participle | present participle
- antecedent
- interrogative
- positive
- abstract
- noun phrase
- protasis
- zero
- indirect passive
- adverbial | adverbially
- apposition
- main verb
- quasi-
- unmarked genitive
- number
- infinitive
- prepositional passive
- concrete
- passive
- reflexive
- pronoun (pron.)
- special use
- non-referential
- tense
- accusative
- third-person
- filler
- pleonasm | pleonastic
- phrase (phr.)
- combination
- first person
- participial adjective
- proper noun | proper name
- anticipatory
- comparative
- adjective
- adverb (adv.)
- superlative
- common noun
- active
- construed (const., constr.)
- subjunctive
- possessive
- compound | compounding
- prepositional object
- agent noun
- clause
- imperative (imper.)
- similative
- auxiliary verb | auxiliary
- direct object
- indirect speech
- optative
- indicative
- part of speech
- declarative
- past participle
- subjective
- prepositional phrase
- singular
- case
- neuter
- subordinate clause
- cognate object
- dative
- object | direct object | indirect object
- feminine
- appositive
- non-finite
- perfect
- masculine
- second person
- count noun
- nominal relative | nominal relative clause
- verbal noun
- suffix
- subject
- definite article
- nominative
- personal pronoun
- pro-form
- head
- indirect question
- to-infinitive
- phrasal verb
- complement
- construction
- indefinite
- causative
- locative
- main clause
- intensifier
- double object
- determiner
- vocative
- direct question
- postmodify | postmodifier
- prefix
- copular verb | copula
- that-clause
- noun (n.)
- plural
- conditional
- instrumental
- simple
- ellipsis | elliptical
- morpheme
- mood
- complementary
- bare infinitive
- predicative
- modify | modifier
- element
- direct speech
- combining form (comb. form)
- periphrasis | periphrastic
- preposition (prep.)
- collocation | collocate
- present tense
- possessive adjective
- demonstrative
- base form
- attributive
- objective
- parenthetical | parenthetically
- present participle
- progressive
- parasynthetic
- mass noun
- relative
- inflection | inflected | inflectional
- genitive
- conjunction (conj.)
- modal verb | modal auxiliary verb | modal auxiliary
- transitive
- absolute (absol.)
- indirect object
- dependent clause
- interjection
- intransitive
- cataphoric
- person
- gender
- premodify | premodifier
- sentence adverb |sentence adverbial
- verb (v.)
- gerund
- impersonal (impers.)
- anaphoric
- apodosis and protasis
- possessive pronoun
- dual
- agree | agreement
- collective noun
- article
- past tense
- passive infinitive
- finite
- stem
Overall, a subject complement is a phrase or word that follows a linking verb and identifies, describes or renames the subject of the sentence.
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