A few verbs, like name, call, elect, make, keep, find and paint, can take a word after the direct object that renames or describes it. That word is an object complement. It works like a subject complement, but for the object.
Key idea
An object complement follows the direct object and is the same person or thing (a noun) or describes it (an adjective): “The news made Dad happy.”
Why it works
The object complement finishes what the verb does to the object. “They painted the door” is complete, but “They painted the door red” tells the result. “The class elected Mia” is complete, but “elected Mia president” says to what.
Worked example: Object complement or indirect object?
Compare “They named the puppy Biscuit” with “They gave the puppy a bone.”
- In the first, Biscuit and the puppy are the same: Biscuit is an object complement, and puppy is the direct object.
- In the second, a bone and the puppy are different things: bone is the direct object, and puppy is the indirect object (gave to whom?).
Answer: object complement, then indirect object
Common mistake
Reading “named the puppy Biscuit” as an indirect object and a direct object. Test with “is”: the puppy is Biscuit, so the two words are the same thing, and the second completes the first. With an indirect object, the test fails: the puppy is not a bone.
Older grammars use different names. Reed and Kellogg’s Higher Lessons in English calls the direct object the “object complement” and this lesson’s object complement the “objective complement.” Most textbooks today use the names in this lesson.