85 Section 4.1 Sentences Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. Objects and Complements Sentence predicates often contain objects. A direct object is someone or something that receives the action of the verb. In the first example that follows, Mr. Rosenbaum is the person who performs the action. Reads is the action performed (the verb). Story is the direct object—the thing that receives the action of the verb. In the following examples, the objects are shown in italics. Mr. Rosenbaum reads a story to his class every Monday. The little boy threw the ball. The cows ate the hay. A predicate that contains a direct object can also contain an indirect object. An indirect object names something or someone for whom the action of the verb is performed. It often comes before the direct object in the sentence. In the first example that follows, gave is the action (the verb). Present is the direct object. Me is the indirect object. In the following examples, the indirect objects are shown in italics. Grandmother gave me a birthday present. The teacher gave the students instructions for the test. The boy gave the dog a biscuit. A predicate with a verb that shows a state of being may contain a subject complement. A subject complement is an adjective that describes the subject or a noun that renames or tells what the subject is. In the first example that follows, beautiful (an adjective) is a subject complement that describes dress (the subject of the sentence). In the second example, captain is a subject complement that renames Jamal. Your new dress is beautiful. Jamal is captain of the team. Phrases and Clauses Sentences can be very short, such as He is. Longer sentences can contain phrases and clauses that add more information to the sentences. Correctly structuring phrases and clauses will convey the meaning you intend listeners and readers to receive. Phrases A phrase is a group of words that act together to convey meaning in a sentence. Both complete subjects and complete predicates can contain phrases. Phrases can be short or long however, a phrase does not contain both a subject and a predicate. Some examples of phrases are shown in Figure 4-2. Phrases Type of Phrase Example Noun Watching movies is my favorite hobby. Verb The sale has been running all week. Adjective The rookie is a quick, strong player. Adverb He climbed the ladder very quickly. Preposition She made uniforms for the team. Goodheart-Willcox Publisher Figure 4-2 The words in a phrase act together to convey meaning.