Question

The critics declared the play a WINNER.

What kind of complement is indicated by the capitalized word?

Answer 1

In this case the complement would be an object complement. This is so because WINNER is complementing the play. If WINNER were to be complementing the critics, then it would be a subject complement and the sentence would look like this: "The critics were WINNERS". Does this make sense? The subject in this sentence is "the critics" and the object is "the play" so which ever one is being complemented is the type of complement, lol. Another example of a subject complement is "The weather is HOT," where hot is complementing the subject. Another object complement would be: "Everyone thought HIM an IDIOT," where IDIOT is complementing the object, HIM. I hope this helps!