Read the sentence.

Carol spent her childhood at the beach.

What kind of complement is the word in bold?

A.

objective complement

B.

indirect object

C.

direct object

D.

predicate nominative

Assuming the word in bold is childhood, the correct answer is C. direct object.

Explanation:

It's relatively easy to spot a direct object in a sentence - you can just ask the question Whom (for people), or What (for non-humans) to find it.

So here, the sentence is Carol spent her childhood at the beach.

If you ask the question, What did Carol spend at the beach?, you will get the answer - Her childhood. That way, you know it's a direct object.