The complex object.

The direct and the prepositional indirect object may be simple and complex.

The complex object consists of two components, of which the second stands in predicate relation to the first. The two components form an indivisible unit and consequently must be regarded as one part of the sentence. The complex object can be non-prepositional and prepositional.

I observed Agnes turn pale. (Dickens)

Thus these two waited with impatience forthe three years to beover. (Buck)

The first component of the complex object is a noun in the common case or in the possessive case, a personal pronoun in the-objective case, or a possessive pronoun; the second is an infinitive, aparticiple, a gerund, seldom a noun, an adjective, a word denoting state, or a prepositional phrase.

He hated her to workin the boarding house. (Prichard)

On looking towards her again, I perceived herface clouded with

embarrassment.(E. Bronte)

He could see the man and Great Beaver talking together.(London)

She thinks herself very clever.

As he spoke, he felt himself unusually on edge.(Lindsay)

N o t e. — The group ‘object + objective predicative’ is very close to the

complex object, but the connection between its two elements is not close

enough to make them one part of the sentence; so while the complex object

can nearly always be extended into an object Clause; the direct object with its

objective predicative cannot.

E.g. He felt himself unusually on edge can be changed into He felt that he was

unusually on edge, but They left him alone cannot be changed in the same

way.

All the predicative constructions when used in the function of an object due to their structure form a complex object. Thus we have a complex object expressed by a participial construction, a gerundial construction, an Objective-with-the-Infinitive Construction and a for-to-Infinitive Construction.

Dick found himself walkingin the direction of his friend Mike’s place.

(Lindsay)

His new duties had kept him occupied.(Douglas)

My lady assures him of his being worthno complaint from her. (Dickens)

“Well,” said Soames, “I want you to come outto the Stores, with me, and

after that we’ll go to the Park.” (Galsworthy)

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<== попередня сторінка	\|	наступна сторінка ==>
The indirect object.	\|	The loose or detached apposition.

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