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In the sentence:

it made me happy.

I'm pretty sure that happy is an objective complement.

But in:

it made me realize something.

Is it correct to assume that "realize something" is an objective complement? If not then what's the part of speech of "realize"? Is it even possible to have a verb as an objective complement? Am I missing something? Can someone grammatically analyze this sentence please?

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  • Having looked up what objective complements are - no, I don't think it is one, it's simply a verb. It caused me to realize something.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Jun 24, 2020 at 10:28

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It made me realize something.
It helped me [to] realize something.

The verb to help is unusual.  It licenses both full and bare infinitives as object complements.  Most verbs that license object complements do so for only one infinitive form, if any. 

There are other differences in the kinds of constituents that these two verbs license as object complements.  For example, "It made me happy" is perfectly fine, but "it helped me happy" is nonsense.

Yes, verbs can be suitable object complements.  What wouldn't be suitable are finite verbs.  Those form predicates that demand subjects.  Gerunds, participles and infinitives (whether bare or full) are non-finite.  Those function as substantives and modifiers, and so they do the same kinds of jobs that nouns and adjectives typically do.

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