Page 35 - The Language of Humour

22 ‘I SAY, I SAY, I SAY’
Another clause element is the complement, which has a different
function from an object, as it adds more information about the subject,
rather than introducing another person or thing as an object. Compare
these two sentences to see the difference:

The final clause element is the indirect object. Some verbs, like ‘give’
and ‘send’, can be followed by two objects: the direct object actually
‘given’ or ‘sent’ and the other the person to whom it was ‘sent’:

Compare the apparently similar sentence to see that the meaning of the
verb ‘found’ changes and the final word now functions as a
complement to the object:

Some humour works by revealing ambiguities in the way the structure
can be interpreted, for example: ‘Call me a taxi.’ ‘You’re a taxi.’ The
normal interpretation of the request—‘Call a taxi for me’—is as follows:

The odd interpretation of this structure as ‘Address me as a taxi’ has a
different structure:

Activity with text

Label this headline to show the two different interpretations of its
structure.

Police found drunk in shop window.
Police found drunk in shop window.

Commentary
The ambiguity lies in whether ‘drunk’ is perceived as the object or
complement.