Stephanie,
Another great question. I may have set you up for this by suggesting
"unwrapped" might be adverbial without going into detail about why that
won't work.
One way to understand this would be to put an "ly" on the end of
"black" and see how that would change the meaning. "She served the
coffee blackly" would clearly be about the way she served it and not
about the coffee. (She was in a dark mood that day.) Another useful
test for object complement is to put some form of the verb to be
between the direct object and the word group that follows. ("The
coffee is black." But not "the coffee is blackly.")
In "She served the coffee quick" (or "quickly"), I would see "quick" or
"quickly" as modifying the verb.
In "she served the black coffee", I would see "the black coffee" as a
single noun phrase acting as direct object. To say "she served the
coffee black" implies that she controlled it, that she brought that
about. We also understand that the coffee itself is "black." (We might
add milk as a result.)
It's wonderful to think we have these options as language users and
that subtle shades of meaning can be expressed by the kinds of choices
we make. It's not a matter of being "correct" so much as it's a matter
of being able to choose between these subtly different meanings. If you
can develop that kind of sensitivity to the way meaning and grammar
interesect,you can put it to great use in reading and writing.
Craig Hancock
Dear Mr. Hancock,
>
> Thank you for your great explaination of IOs and OCs...(and if this is
> still going around in the Grammar group, Thank you to the other people who
> also replied to my question). I really appreciate you helping me with this
> problem.
>
> Okay, so, I have a question.
>
> When you replied " "She served the coffee black." (The coffee is black
> because she served it that way.", wouldn't 'black' in this case be an
> adverb modifying the verb, 'served'?
> If the sentence just added a "him" "She served him the coffee black",
> couldn't black be still considered just a regular adverb and not an
> objective complement by say "how" she served the coffee or is it an
> adjective objective complement describing the coffee?
>
> Could different people interpret this sentence in different ways or is
> there just one specific way that it always has to be...in this case?
>
> -Stephanie Lim
> --- [log in to unmask] wrote:
>
> From: [log in to unmask]
> To: "Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar"
> <[log in to unmask]>
> Cc: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: FW: Question about Complements
> Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2006 09:26:03 -0500 (EST)
>
> Stephanie,
> I wrote my reply before I read Martha's, so I'm glad I said I wasn't
> sure and would be happy to be corrected. (If you didn't receive it, her
> message is below mine on t6his message.) Martha's example is very clear,
> and I'm now ready to accept your analysis of "I sent him the gift
> unwrapped" as BOTH di-transitive (having an indirect object) and complex
> transitive (having an object complement.) >
> My thinking now is that this kind of mixture is highly unusual enough
> to be thought of as a rare exception to the idea that clauses tend to
> follow one pattern or another, but not more than one. (Sort of like the
> platypus as an egg laying mammal.)
> "Give" and "serve" are both verbs that can be di-transitive OR complex
> transitive, and it seems from these examples that they can occasionally
> be both.
> "She served the coffee black." (The coffee is black because she served
> it that way. "Black" is clearly what is traditionally called an object
> complement.)
> "She served him the coffee." ("him" is clearly indirect object.)
> "She served him his coffee black." Clearly has both.
> With that parallel, I don't see why "unwrapped" can't be considered an
> object complement as well, particularly if it conveys the sense that
> being "unwrapped" was caused by the giver.
> I think I saw "eighth grader" before your name and then didn't give
> proper respect to your analysis. Thank you for posing this question and
> helping me to think outside the box of my old understanding.
> I hope some of the things I said in my first post have been helpful. We
> often solve problems on our list by proposing solutions and then
> amending them. (We can be useful to each other by being willing to try
> out answers even when they may be partly wrong.) I hope this was of
> some help.
>
>
> Craig Hancock
> Hi Stephanie,
>>
>> That's a good question!
>>
>> Usually verbs, like "give," that have indirect objects, are in a
>> separate class from verbs like "consider" or "elect," those that have
>> object complements. But here's one that appears to have both:
>>
>> The waitress served me my coffee black.
>>
>> Does that work?
>>
>> I'm glad to know that you're learning about grammar in eighth grade.
>> Please give my regards to your teacher and fellow students.
>>
>> Sincerely,
>>
>> Martha Kolln
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>I received the inquiry below from an eighth grader. Would any of you
>>>care to send an answer to Stephanie ([log in to unmask]), with a CC to
>>>this list ([log in to unmask])?
>>>________________________
>>>
>>>Richard Veit
>>>Department of English, UNCW
>>>Wilmington, NC 28403-5947
>>>
>>>
>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>From: Stephanie !!! [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>>>Sent: Friday, March 24, 2006 7:48 PM
>>>To: Veit, Richard
>>>Subject: Question about Complements
>>>
>>>Dear Mr. Veit,
>>>
>>>Hi, I'm Stephanie Lim, an 8th grader attending Pinewood School, CA,and I
>>>would like to know whether or not an indirect object and an objective
>>>complement can exist to be grammatically correct in a sentence.
>>>Currently in our Writing class we have been learning about complements,
>>>indirect object, direct object, and objective complements, and our
>>>teacher is unsure of whether an indirect object and an objective
>>>complement can be in the same snetence because many grammar textbooks do
>>>not state if in that case it is correct or incorrect.
>>>
>>>I am very interested whether sentences can obtain an indirect object and
>>>obective complement like in the sentence "I gave him the present
>>>unwrapped" because i would like to acknowledge people whether that in
>>>this case the sentence can be grammatically correct or incorrect and
>>>why. Thank you for taking your time to read my request.Please reply to
>>>me soon if possible. Thank you for reading my email again.
>>>
>>>Sincerely,
>>>
>>>Stephanie Lim
>>>
>>>_____________________________________________________________
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>>>
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>>>
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>>
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>>
>
>
>
> _____________________________________________________________
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>
> free piximail at http://mail.pixigirl.nu
>
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