Question

Which word/ phrase is the subjective complement in the following statement
The thief ran.
A) The
B) Thief
C) Ran
D) None of the above

Answer 1

Hint: Try to spot the linking verb (a verb that connects the subject with a word that gives information about the subject), which describes and gives more information about the subject.

Complete answer:
Subjective complement refers to a subject complement is a word or phrase that follows a linking verb and identifies or describes the subject. It can take any form (A pronoun, an adjective, noun and many more). A linking verb connects the subject with a word that gives information about the subject, such as a condition or relationship.
Form of subject complement is: Subject + Linking verb + Subject complement

Now let us analyze the given options:
A) Option A- ‘The’ is a definite article, which talks about a specific thief. Therefore, this is an incorrect option.
B) Option B- ‘Thief’ is a common noun. Therefore, this is an incorrect option. Common noun means a noun which can be used generally. It doesn’t begin with capital letters like the proper nouns, unless they are in the beginning of the sentence.
C) Option C- ‘Ran’ is a verb. It is the past tense of the verb ‘run’. Therefore, this is an incorrect option.
D) Option D- ‘None of the above’ since no option is given is a subjective complement, we have to choose this option. Therefore, the correct answer is Option D.
For example:
She looked stunning at the party (‘stunning’ describes ‘she’ and ‘looked’ is the linking word here).
I will be fine by Monday (The subject ‘I’ is described as ‘fine’ and ‘be’ is the linking word here).

Hence the correct answer is option ‘D’.

Note: Subject complement can’t be found within a prepositional phrase. Every prepositional phrase is a series of words consisting of a preposition and its object.