Question

What is the function of the complement shown in parentheses in this sentence " Steven seems (unconcerned) about his grades"?

Answer 1

Hint: A complement may be a pronoun, noun, or even an adjective that supports a connecting verb. In such a case, when the complement affirms the subject it will be the subject complement, or if the complement accompanies a direct object and reaffirms the direct object, it is termed as the object complement.

Complete answer:
The sentence given to us is “Steven seems (unconcerned) about his grades.” At first look we can note that ‘unconcerned’ is an adjective that describes the boy ‘Steven’. Here in the above sentence, ‘Steven’ is the subject and ‘seems’ is the verb.

Remember that subject complements can come in two ways;
- If a pronoun or noun comes after the verb, that is a predicate noun is found, then that noun will be a subject complement.
- Otherwise if an adjective comes after the verb (also known as a predicate adjective), it is a subject complement also.

To get the answer to this question, look at some examples;
Some examples for a subject complement;
When there is a predicate adjective: “The captain was quite delighted with how his team performed.” (note that the adjective here will be 'delighted' and it is able to reaffirm the noun who is subject ‘the captain'; so here ‘delighted’ will act as the subject complement).

 When there is a predicate noun: “Rekha was a lawyer.” (note that the noun here will be 'a lawyer' and it is able to reaffirm the noun who is subject ‘Rekha'; so ‘a lawyer’ is the subject complement).

Then an example for object complement:
“Jerina made her best friend her roommate.” ('her roommate' will be the noun here that reaffirms the direct object 'her best friend'; so ‘her roommate’ is the object complement).

Now within the question “Steven seems (unconcerned) about his grades.”;
We know that an adjective found in the sentence is ‘unconcerned’. Also ‘unconcerned’ is used to describe ‘Steven’ who is the subject. So we can now rule out the possibility of ‘unconcerned’ being an object complement. We even see that ‘unconcerned’ comes after the verb ‘seems’. So now the term ‘unconcerned’ fits the description of a subject complement.

So therefore the term mentioned in parentheses, ‘unconcerned' is indeed a subject complement.

Note: In the question, the term ‘unconcerned’ is put in parentheses. Parentheses are a couple of angled symbols used to denote that terms or quantities are supplementary, different, or less significant. A parenthesis is a comment made in the center of a speech or piece of writing that adds rather more detail to the topic being addressed.