Object Complements: Keep It Open, Leave It Running
By the end: I can describe an object’s state or continuing activity and distinguish that from a judgement about it.
Try the activities, then check your answers.
Try the activities, then check your answers.
Choose a short recording.
Before you start
Compare Leave the door open, Leave the engine running and We consider the proposal useful. What follows the object in each?
Useful background: Object pronouns; adjectives and participles; basic causative patterns.
Keep or leave an object in a state
An adjective after the object can describe the state maintained or left in place. The object is not a new subject of a separate finite clause. Meaning depends on the main verb and context.
Keep the entrance clear.
Please leave the side door open.
Describe an ongoing activity or a passive result
An -ing complement can describe an ongoing activity connected with the object; a past participle can describe a passive/result state. Check what the object is doing or what has been done to it.
Do not leave the projector running overnight.
We left the final paragraph unchanged.
Report a judgement or discovery
Find and consider can be followed by an object and a complement that describes or evaluates it. A judgement is not a command to create that state. Preserve the source and type of assessment.
We found the instructions confusing.
The group considers the shorter proposal practical.
The main verb changes what you report
We discovered that the door was open; this does not say we kept it that way.
We maintained its open state; this does not merely report discovering it.
Guided practice
Say or write your answer first. Compare the meaning and form; the model is one possible answer.
1. Explain clear in Keep the entrance clear.
Compare a model and explanation
It describes the state of the entrance that should be maintained.
The complement relates to the object entrance.
2. Change to a negative instruction about ongoing operation: Leave the projector running.
Compare a model and explanation
Don’t leave the projector running.
Running remains the activity whose continuation is being rejected.
3. Use a participial/result complement to say the heading was not altered.
Compare a model and explanation
We left the heading unchanged.
Unchanged describes the heading’s resulting state.
4. Report an evaluation: The group thought the shorter instructions were practical.
Compare a model and explanation
The group considered the shorter instructions practical.
The object complement reports a judgement rather than causing practicality.
5. Contrast We found the door open with We kept the door open.
Compare a model and explanation
The first reports discovering its state; the second reports maintaining that state.
The same complement does not erase the main verb’s different meaning.
6. Contrast Leave the machine running with Leave the machine repaired.
Compare a model and explanation
Running describes ongoing operation; repaired describes a completed repair state, though the second needs a suitable context.
Active activity and passive/result state differ, and naturalness is context-sensitive.
7. Read the studio note. Report the unchanged text and the group’s evaluation without implying everyone agrees.
Compare a model and explanation
The team left the final paragraph unchanged. The group found the shorter instructions clearer.
Keep the action and the attributed evaluation separate.
8. Repair the unintended finite clause in the target pattern: We found the instructions they confusing.
Compare a model and explanation
We found the instructions confusing.
The object is followed directly by its adjective complement in this pattern.
A short conversation
Listen first if you can, then open the transcript when useful.
Open the conversation transcript
A: Should I close the side door before the visitors arrive?
B: Leave it open for now, but keep the entrance clear.
A: And should the projector stay on during the long break?
B: No, don’t leave it running. We found the shorter printed instructions clear enough for the first activity.
Listening checks
Listen to each extract or open its transcript. These three questions have their own score.
Mastery quiz
Choose the best answer in each situation. Your score is out of eight.
Use it in your own words
Speaking task 1
Give a studio handover using one state instruction, one activity instruction and one attributed evaluation.
Reveal a possible response
Keep the entrance clear and leave the side door open until everyone arrives. Don’t leave the projector running during the long break. Our group found the shorter instructions clearer, though another group preferred more detail.
Success check: Distinguish operational instructions from subjective judgements.
Speaking task 2
Tell a short story contrasting what you discovered with what you deliberately maintained.
Reveal a possible response
We found the room quiet when we arrived. We kept it quiet while the first visitor recorded a short introduction. Later we left the final paragraph unchanged because nobody had requested an edit.
Success check: Let the main verbs show discovery, maintenance and the state left behind.
Speaking task 3
Explain how an overconfident rewrite can misrepresent an evaluation.
Reveal a possible response
Our group considered it practical is an attributed assessment. Rewriting it as everyone proved it was the only practical option adds agreement, evidence and exclusivity that were not stated.
Success check: Identify the added claims and restore the original scope.
Take it with you
I can describe an object’s state or continuing activity and distinguish that from a judgement about it.