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Difficulty: EasyNouns and Noun Phrases

The board members designated Mrs. Adeleke the managing director during yesterday's meeting. What is the syntactic function of the bolded noun phrase in the sentence above?

  1. Object complement of the verb 'designated'Answer
  2. B
    Direct object of the verb 'designated'
  3. C
    Appositive to the noun phrase 'Mrs. Adeleke'
  4. D
    Subject complement of the sentence

Answer

Object complement of the verb 'designated'
In English grammar, complex transitive verbs such as 'appoint', 'elect', 'make', and 'designate' take a direct object followed by an object complement. In this sentence, 'Mrs. Adeleke' is the direct object and 'the managing director' functions as the object complement because it renames and describes the post assigned to the direct object.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the core verb and direct object in the sentence.
The verb is 'designated' (a complex transitive verb) and the direct object is 'Mrs. Adeleke'.
Determining the verb type helps establish how surrounding noun phrases interact grammatically.
2
Analyze the relationship between 'Mrs. Adeleke' and the bolded phrase 'the managing director'.
'the managing director' provides necessary information identifying the attribute/role assigned to the direct object 'Mrs. Adeleke'.
A noun phrase following a direct object that describes or renames that object performs the syntactic function of an object complement.

Key Concept

Syntactic Functions of Noun Phrases: Object Complement
Estimated Time:45s
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Topics

Nouns and Noun Phrases

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