In grammatical terminology, a subject complement is a predicative expression that follows a linking verb (copula) and that complements the subject of a clause by either renaming or describing it. It completes the meaning of the subject. In the former case, a renaming noun phrase such as a noun or pronoun is called a predicative nominal. An adjective following the copula and describing the subject is called a predicative adjective. In either case the predicative complement in effect mirrors the subject. Subject complements are used with a small class of verbs called linking verbs or copulas, of which be is the most common. Since linking verbs are intransitive, subject complements are not affected by any action of the verb. Subject complements are typically neither clause arguments nor adjuncts. A predicative complement can be either a subject complement or an object complement.
A subject complement does not determine the verb. When there is a difference between the number, the verb agrees with the subject.
The subject complement is bold in the following examples:
The lake was a tranquil pool. – Predicative nominal as subject complement
Here, was is a linking verb (an inflected form of be) that equates the subject complement phrase a tranquil pool, with the head noun, pool, to the subject, the lake (with head noun lake).
The lake is tranquil. – Predicative adjective as subject complement
In this example tranquil is a predicative adjective linked through the verb is (another inflected form of be) to the subject the lake.
An example in which the subject complement is a dependent clause is:
That is what my point is. – Predicative clause as subject complement
Some languages do not use predicative adjectives with a linking verb; instead, adjectives can become stative verbs that replace the copula.
Eighteenth-century grammarians such as Joseph Priestley justified the colloquial usage of it is me (and it is him, he is taller than him, etc.
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Un attribut est, en syntaxe, un mot ou groupe de mots qui sert à donner une caractéristique à un sujet ou à un complément d'objet direct par l’intermédiaire d’un verbe. En grammaire française, on distingue lattribut du sujet et lattribut du complément d'objet direct. L'attribut du sujet permet d'affecter au sujet une caractéristique par l'intermédiaire d'un verbe d'état (être et tout verbe pouvant s'y substituer comme devenir, avoir l'air ou sembler).
En syntaxe de la phrase simple, une copule est un mot qui, dans la phrase, relie le sujet à son attribut. Dans des langues comme les langues indo-européennes, la copule est un verbe et l’attribut est un mot de nature nominale (nom, pronom, adjectif, numéral) ou employé avec une valeur nominale (verbe au participe ou à l’infinitif, adverbe). Avec celui-ci, le verbe copulatif à un mode personnel forme le prédicat de la phrase. À une forme nominale (un mode impersonnel), comme l’infinitif et le participe, le verbe copulatif forme avec l’attribut une construction nominale, ex.
In grammatical terminology, a subject complement is a predicative expression that follows a linking verb (copula) and that complements the subject of a clause by either renaming or describing it. It completes the meaning of the subject. In the former case, a renaming noun phrase such as a noun or pronoun is called a predicative nominal. An adjective following the copula and describing the subject is called a predicative adjective. In either case the predicative complement in effect mirrors the subject.