Circle all the nouns in your sentence. A noun is defined as a person, place, thing or idea. If there are no other nouns, then there can be no complement noun. If you do not have a worksheet or assignment that has sample sentences, find a list of sample sentences such as the one listed under Resources.
Underline the subject of each of your sample sentences. The subject of each sentence will be the noun that the sentence is about. For example, in the sentence "The cat is a fighter," the subject would be "cat."
Determine whether the noun other than the subject follows a linking verb in the sentence. Linking verbs are usually a form of "to be," related to the five senses or reflective of a state of being. The noun after a linking verb is called a subject complement and will name or define the subject. In "The cat is a fighter" example, "fighter" is the noun acting as a subject complement. These nouns can also be called predicate nouns.
Identify the direct object if the noun in your sentence does not match the subject complement type. A direct object is a noun that receives the action of a sentence, sometimes directly following an action verb. Look for the noun that modifies the direct object, which is called an object complement. In the sentence, "The committee named Jenny chairwoman," the direct object is "Jenny" and the object complement is the noun "chairwoman," because it modifies "Jenny."
Draw a box around the verb in your sentence if you have not found the correct type of complement yet. Both direct and indirect objects of a verb are called verb complements and can also be nouns. Capital Community College Foundation's "Guide to Grammar and Writing" gives this example of a verb complement: "Granny left Raoul all her money." The direct object "money" and the indirect object Raoul are both verb complements and both nouns.