THE OBJECTIVE COMPLEMENT.
The treatment of the objective complement may be introduced in a review course, when the class is sufficiently mature. The following explanation may aid some teachers:—
In "It made him sad," made does not fully express the action performed upon him—not "made him," but "made sad (saddened) him." Sad helps made to express the action, and also denotes a quality which as the result of the action belongs to the person represented by the object him.
Whatever completes the predicate and belongs to the object we call an Objective Complement.
Nouns, infinitives, and participles may also be used in the same way; as,
"They made Victoria queen,"
"It made him weep;"
"It kept him laughing."
They | made / queen | Victoria
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+Explanation+.—The line that separates made from queen slants toward the object complement to show that queen belongs to the object.
A noun or pronoun used as objective complement is in the objective case.
The teacher may here explain such constructions as, "I proved it to be him," in which it is object complement and to be him is objective complement. Him, the attribute complement of be, is in the objective case because it, the assumed subject of be, is objective. Let the pupils compare "I proved it to be him" with "I proved that it was he;" "Whom did you suppose it to be?" with "Who did you suppose it was?" etc.