Some transitive verbs can be followed by an object together with an object complement which is usually an expression that gives more information about the object.
- They elected him their leader. (Object – him; object complement – their leader)
- You make me happy. (Object – me; object complement – happy)
- I found her attitude disgusting. (Object – her attitude; object complement – disgusting)
After some verbs we use the structure ‘object + as + complement’. Verbs that are usually followed by this structure are: see, describe, regard, identify, consider etc.
- I see him as a nice person.
- We considered the project as wasteful.
- She described her lover as a tall, dark and handsome guy.
- We regard him as a genius.
Sometimes we use as being instead of as.
- The police regard him as being dangerous.
After some verbs we use an object + infinitive. In an informal style, we can use a that-clause.
- We considered him to be a genius. (Formal)
- We considered that he is a genius. (Informal)
- We believed him to be reliable. (Formal)
- We believed that he is reliable. (Informal)
Note that the verb think cannot be followed by an object + to-infinitive. Instead, we use a that-clause.
- I thought that she was reliable. (NOT I thought her to be reliable.)