Plain English Part 89

The tailor made him a coat.

+409.+ _Coat_ is the _direct_ object of the verb _made_. But we have another object in the p.r.o.noun _him_. We do not mean that the tailor made _him_, but that the tailor made him a _coat_. _Coat_ is the direct object and _him_ is the indirect object. The indirect object is always placed before the direct object. The indirect object may be used as the object of the preposition _to_ or _for_. As for example, this sentence might be rewritten to read, _The tailor made a coat for him_. In this sentence, _him_ is not the indirect object of the verb, but is the object of the preposition _for_.

+410.+ The direct object of the verb always answers the question _what?_ As for example, the tailor made _what?_--_a coat_. The indirect object of the verb names the person or thing _to_ or _for_ which the act is done,--_the tailor made a coat for whom?_--for _him_.

The direct and indirect object become a part of the complete predicate of the sentence. There may be other modifiers also, as adverbs or adverb phrases, and all of these taken together form the complete predicate in the sentences where you have used an incomplete verb. As for example:

The tailor gladly made him a coat for the occasion.

The complete predicate is, _gladly made him a coat for the occasion_, formed of the verb _made_, the direct object, _coat_, the indirect object _him_, the adverb modifier, _gladly_, and the phrase modifier, _for the occasion_.

Exercise 3

In the following sentences, underscore the direct object with one line and the indirect object with two lines. The verb is in italics.

1. He _gave_ her a book.

2. He _wrote_ me a long letter.

3. Her father _bought_ her a watch.

4. The nurse _gave_ the patient his medicine.

5. The mother _gave_ her daughter a present.

6. _Give_ me time to think.

7. The clerk _sold_ her a dress.

8. The teacher _read_ the children a story.

9. The company _furnishes_ the men food and shelter.

10. The man _showed_ us his wounds.

Exercise 4

In the following sentences underscore the complete subject and the complete predicate. Notice especially the direct and the indirect objects of the incomplete verbs. The simple subjects and the direct objects are in italics.

1. A great many _miles_ separate _us_ from our friends.

2. The merry _shouts_ of the children fill the _air_ with music.

3. A gentle _breeze_ brings us the _perfume_ of the flowers.

4. A careless _druggist_ gave the unfortunate man the wrong _medicine_.

5. His admiring _friends_ gave him a beautiful _ring_.

6. _Soldiers_ obey _orders_ from their superiors.

7. This terrible _war_ claims _thousands_ of victims.

8. The _power_ of hunger drives the _unemployed_ to rebellion.

9. The _workers_ of the world produce _enough_ for all.

10. The retiring _secretary_ showed us a _letter_ from the president.

11. The old sea _captain_ told them an interesting _story_ of life at sea.

12. _Labor_ produces all _wealth_.

COPULATIVE VERBS

+411.+ We have another cla.s.s of incomplete verbs which require a complement to complete their meaning. These are the copulative verbs.

The number of copulative verbs is small. They are: all forms of the verb _be_; also, _like_, _appear_, _look_, _feel_, _sound_, _smell_, _become_, _seem_, etc. These verbs require a noun or an adjective or a phrase as a complement, to complete their meaning. They are really connective words serving to connect the noun or adjective or phrase used in the predicate with the noun which they modify. The noun or adjective or phrase used to complete the meaning of the copulative verb is called a predicate complement. For example:

The man is a hero.

Here we have a noun, _hero_, used as a predicate complement after the copulative verb, _is_, to describe the noun _man_.

The man is cla.s.s-conscious.

In this sentence, we have an adjective, _cla.s.s-conscious_, in the predicate to modify the subject, _man_. It is connected with the subject by the copulative verb _is_.

The man is in earnest.

Here we have a phrase, _in earnest_, used in the predicate to modify the noun _man_, and connected with the subject by the copulative verb _is_.

+412.+ So in the predicate with the copulative verbs--incomplete verbs which express state or condition--we may use a noun or an adjective or a phrase. A noun used as the predicate complement may have modifiers. It may be modified by one or more adjectives or adjective phrases. These adjectives in turn may be modified by adverbs. The complete predicate, then, is the copulative verb with its predicate complement and all its modifiers. For example:

Grant was the most famous general of the Civil war.

In this sentence, _Grant_ is the complete subject, _was the most famous general of the Civil war_ is the complete predicate. _Was_ is the copulative verb; _general_ is the noun used as the predicate complement; _the_ and _famous_ are adjectives modifying _general_; _most_ is an adverb modifying the adjective _famous_, and, _of the Civil war_ is an adjective phrase modifying _general_, so our complete predicate is, _was the most famous general of the Civil war_.

When an adjective is used in the predicate complement it, too, may have modifiers and more than one adjective may be used. For example:

The man is very brave and loyal to his cla.s.s.

Here we have two adjectives used in the predicate complement, _brave_ and _loyal_. _Brave_ is modified by the adverb _very_, and _loyal_ is modified by the adverb phrase, _to his cla.s.s_. The complete predicate is, _is very brave and loyal to his cla.s.s_.

When we use a phrase as a predicate complement, it, too, may have modifiers and more than one phrase may be used. For example:

The man is in the fight and deeply in earnest.

In this sentence, two phrases are used in the predicate complement, _in the fight_ and _in earnest_. The second phrase, _in earnest_ is modified by the adverb _deeply_. The complete predicate is, _is in the fight and deeply in earnest_.

Exercise 5

Fill the blanks in the following sentences with a noun and its modifiers used as predicate complement. Name all of the parts of speech which you have used in the predicate complement as we have done in the sentences a.n.a.lyzed above:

The men are _loyal members of the Union_.

Slavery is.......

Liberty will be.......

War is.......

The machine is.......

The children were.......

Fill the blanks in the following sentences with one or more adjectives and their modifiers used in the predicate complement.

The work is _hard and destructive to the children_.

The history will be.......

Labor has been.......