Infinitive Objective Complement
She thought him to be a lesser man.
I see that to be a lesser man is an objective complement, not being sure of whether it's adjectival or nominal. Could you tell me if the infinitive phrase is adjectival or nominal?
Top answer
She thought him to be a lesser man. You have the analysis wrong. The subordinate infinitival clause is complement of "thought".
- She thought him to be a lesser man.
- You have the analysis wrong.
- The subordinate infinitival clause is complement of "thought".
- The intervening noun phrase "him" is the grammatical object of "thought" and the semantic (understood) subject of the subordinate clause.
- Note that "him" is called a 'raised' object because the verb it relates to syntactically is higher in the constituent structure than the one it relates to semantically.
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She thought him to be a lesser man.
You have the analysis wrong.
The subordinate infinitival clause is complement of "thought". The intervening noun phrase "him" is the grammatical object of "thought" and the semantic (understood) subject of the subordinate clause.
Note that "him" is called a 'raised' object because the verb it relates to syntactically is higher in the
0anonymousShe thought him to be a lesser man.
She - a subject;
thought him to be a lesser man - predicate, a catenative construction;
thought - predicator (main verb);
him to be a lesser man - the complement in the predicate;
him - the direct object in the predicate (an intervening NP in the catenati
0anonymousI see that to be a lesser man is an objective complement,
Correct - specifically an objective predicative complement.
anonymousCould you tell me if the infinitive phrase is adjectival or nominal?
Predicative is a better word. Likewise with the underlined objective complements below.
She found h
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