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Here is the example:

We condemn such behavior that can risk damaging a company’s brand and reputation.

I think, the 'a company's brand reputation' is the object of 'damaging'. And the whole phrase is the object of 'risk'. is it right?

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The title of your question isn't quite clear; could you edit? I'm not quite sure how transitive verb [for] an object quite relates to the final question in the body. – Jimi Oke Jan 19 '11 at 17:11
A nit: the combination of "such behavior that..." doesn't sound natural to me. I suggest dropping the word "such". – JSBձոգչ Jan 19 '11 at 17:43
Agree with JSBangs: "such" is a specifier which does not allow another specifier such as a restrictive relative clause. It would be OK with a commenting relative clause (comma before "that"). – Colin Fine Jan 19 '11 at 18:54
@JSBangs @Jimi Oke I mean 'must', a transitive verb must follow an object. When it be used as a gerund, is it still need to follow an object? – lovespring Jan 20 '11 at 6:38

1 Answer

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Your analysis of the sentence is correct. The -ing form is a present participle, which can take a direct object, in this case "a company's brand and reputation". The participle + object acts as the complement of the verb "risk".

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Thank you, JSBangs! I ever think that the participle+object acts as object. so, what's the difference between object and complement? why you think it as a complement, not object? – lovespring Jan 20 '11 at 6:03
I think this is a gerund phrase rather than a participial phrase. An example of participial use may be, "I saw him damaging the company's reputation." (Please correct me if I'm wrong.) The gerund+object combination acts as the object of the verb risk. – Tragicomic Jan 21 '11 at 10:24
thank you, Tragicomic. – lovespring Jan 22 '11 at 14:05

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