In the sentence ‘We elected her class leader,’ the term ‘class leader’ functions as a complement, and the role of ‘we’ and the use of ‘a class leader’ may be confusing at first glance. Let’s break down why ‘class leader’ is a complement and why the sentence is not written as ‘We elected her a class leader.’
Understanding the Role of ‘Class Leader’ as a Complement
In English grammar, a complement provides more information about the object or subject of a sentence, usually completing its meaning. In ‘We elected her class leader,’ ‘class leader’ describes what ‘her’ has become as a result of the action ‘elected.’ It functions as a subject complement because it tells us more about the object ‘her.’ This is typical in sentences with ‘to be’ or similar verbs like ‘make,’ ‘name,’ and ‘elect.’
Why Not ‘We Elected Her a Class Leader’?
The sentence ‘We elected her a class leader’ would be incorrect because ‘elect’ in this case works as a transitive verb that doesn’t take a direct object. Instead, it requires a predicate nominative or a complement. By using ‘class leader’ without ‘a,’ it immediately serves as the direct complement of the noun ‘her,’ not as an additional noun phrase with an article. If you wanted to use ‘a class leader,’ the sentence would need to be structured differently, such as ‘We made her a class leader,’ where ‘a class leader’ acts as the object of the verb ‘made.’
Why English Uses This Structure
This type of construction—using a noun without an article as a complement—helps streamline the sentence and maintains the focus on the action and its result. The sentence structure ‘We elected her class leader’ is more direct and emphasizes her new role, while the alternative structure with ‘a’ introduces unnecessary complexity.
Conclusion
The phrase ‘class leader’ is used as a complement in the sentence ‘We elected her class leader’ because it describes what she has become as a result of the election. The use of ‘a class leader’ in this sentence would be grammatically incorrect. Understanding the role of complements in English can help clarify why certain sentence structures work the way they do and why they sound natural in specific contexts.
コメント