Complements

Indirect Objects & Objective Complements

An indirect object tells to whom or for whom an action is done. An objective complement renames or describes the direct object. Both have distinctive diagramming conventions.

Indirect Objects

An indirect object is diagrammed like the object of a preposition — on a horizontal line extending from a diagonal — but the diagonal line is left empty (no preposition written on it). It hangs below the verb.

“Show Jack the letter from Melvin.”

Step 60 — imperative; 'Jack' is indirect object; 'from Melvin' is adjectival prepositional phrase

“She gave Jim her phone number.”

Step 61 — 'Jim' is indirect object; 'phone' is a noun used as adjective modifying 'number'

Objective Complements

An objective complement is a noun or adjective that follows the direct object and renames or describes it. There are two accepted diagramming methods:

Traditional: a forward slash ( / ) precedes the direct object.
Modern: a backslash ( \ ) follows the direct object, pointing toward the complement.

This tutorial uses the modern method (backslash after the direct object) as the primary convention.

“The class elected him treasurer.”

Step 65 — noun objective complement 'treasurer' after direct object 'him'

“What makes you healthy?”

Step 64 — adjective objective complement 'healthy' describes direct object 'you'

Key Distinctions

Indirect object vs. prepositional phrase: "She gave Jim her number" (indirect object — Jim is in subject position of an implied tophrase) vs. "She gave her number to Jim" (prepositional phrase — to is explicit, Jim goes on the horizontal of a real preposition line).
Objective complement vs. predicate nominative/adjective: A predicate adjective describes the subject. An objective complement describes (or renames) the direct object.