>One of my students posed the sentence, "Being crowned king made him what
>he had longed to be for years." I see 'what he had longed to be for
>years' as a Noun Clause acting as Object/Objective Complement to Direct
>Object 'him,' but I am having problems with deciding what the function
>of 'Being crowned king' would be titled. Gerund phrase acting as
>subject? Having problems with that, as that begs what is 'crowned'?  Any
>suggestions/insights? I appreciate your comments.
>Gordon
>
>Gordon Carmichael

Dear Gordon:

The verb phrase that has been turned into a gerund phrase is "He is being
crowned king," the passive of "X is crowning him king."  The main verb in
the gerund phrase of your sentence, then, is "crowned," with "being"
serving as the passive-forming auxiliary.  The word "king" is a subjective
complement (in the active, it would be an objective complement).

It's an interesting sentence--a nominal clause as objective complement!
(Along the lines of "He made me what I am today," now that I think about
it!)

Martha Kolln