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Direct and Indirect Objects

Basic Sentence Review:

• What are the two things that every sentence needs to be complete?
o Identify the subjects and verbs in the following sentences. Circle the
subjects, and underline the verbs. For each verb, identify it as either an action
verb [av] or a linking verb [lv]
 I went to the store and bought food.
 Mom rises for work in the morning.
 Grammar is tough.
 My grandfather was a soldier
 This room is very hot.
 The duck is swimming with her babies.
 I wish I lived in Hawaii.

Fill in the blanks of the following prepositional phrases. You will either have to add an object or
a preposition.

The lady near ___________________________ is really rich.

The house ______ the white pillars is really expensive.

After we _________________________________, the team will get ready.

Mr. Jones left this house ___________________ twenty minutes ago.

That dance in _______________________________________ should be really fun.

I have to have a cup ____ coffee in the morning.

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For the following sentences, circle the subject and underline the direct object if applicable. If the
sentence contains a linking verb, then what follows the verb is not a direct object!
The boy threw the football.

My family gave blood.

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Soldiers gave their lives during the great war.

I am hungry.

Harry donated one thousand dollars to the committee.

He left his coat here.

In the back room I store cans of peaches.

Life is very good to me.

I love animals.

Sally loves them too.

When all this rain is through, I’ll want sunshine.

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For the following sentences, identify whether or not the sentence is using an indirect object or a
prepositional phrase. Circle the indirect object or underline the prepositional phrases. After this
complete, rewrite the sentence so that you either remove or add the indirect object.

• I baked this pie for mom.


• Would become: I baked mom a pie.
• The umpire threw Jimmy the ball.
• I gave Dr. Johnson my test results.
• I handed the test to Mike.
• I wrote a note for the teacher.

I sang Sally a song.

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Predicates
A predicate is the completer of a sentence. The subject names the "do-er" or "be-er" of the
sentence; the predicate does the rest of the work. A simple predicate consists of only a verb,
verb string, or compound verb:

• The glacier melted.


• The glacier has been melting.
• The glacier melted, broke apart, and slipped into the sea.

A compound predicate consists of two (or more) such predicates connected:

• The glacier began to slip down the mountainside and eventually crushed some of
the village's outlying buildings.

A complete predicate consists of the verb and all accompanying modifiers and other words
that receive the action of a transitive verb or complete its meaning. The following description of
predicates comes from The Longman Handbook for Writers and Readers (examples our own):

With an intransitive verb, objects and complements are included in the predicate. (The glacier is
melting.) With a transitive verb, objects and object complements are said to be part of the
predicate. (The slow moving glacier wiped out an entire forest. It gave the villagers a lot of
problems.) With a linking verb, the subject is connected to a subject complement. (The mayor
doesn't feel good.)

A predicate adjective follows a linking verb and tells us something about the subject:

• Ramonita is beautiful.
• His behavior has been outrageous.
• That garbage on the street smells bad.

A predicate nominative follows a linking verb and tells us what the subject is:

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• Dr. Couchworthy is acting president of the university.
• She used to be the tallest girl on the team.

Complements
Since this page is about the completers of thoughts, it is appropriate to include a brief
description of complements. A complement (notice the spelling of the word) is any word or
phrase that completes the sense of a subject, an object, or a verb. As you will see, the
terminology describing predicates and complements can overlap and be a bit confusing. Students
are probably wise to learn one set of terms, not both.

• A subject complement follows a linking verb; it is normally an adjective or a


noun that renames or defines in some way the subject.
o A glacier is a huge body of ice.
o Glaciers are beautiful and potentially dangerous at the same time.
o This glacier is not yet fully formed. (verb form acting as an
adjective, a participle)

Adjective complements are also called predicate adjectives; noun complements are
also called predicate nouns or predicate nominatives. See predicates, above.

• An object complement follows and modifies or refers to a direct object. It can


be a noun or adjective or any word acting as a noun or adjective.
o The convention named Dogbreath Vice President to keep him
happy. (The noun "Vice President" complements the direct object
"Dogbreath"; the adjective "happy" complements the object "him.")

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oThe clown got the children too excited. (The participle "excited"
complements the object "children.")
• A verb complement is a direct or indirect object of a verb. (See above.)
o Granny left Raoul all her money. (Both "money" [the direct object]
and "Raoul" [the indirect object] are said to be the verb complements
of this sentence.)

An object in grammar is a sentence element and part of the sentence predicate. It denotes
somebody or something involved in the subject's "performance" of the verb. As an example, the
following sentence is given:

In the sentence "Bobby kicked the ball", "ball" is the object.

"Bobby" is the subject, the doer or performer, while "kick" is the action, and "ball" is the
object involved in the action.

The main verb in the sentence determines whether there can or must be objects in the
sentence, and if so how many and of what type. (See also Valency (linguistics).) In many
languages, however, including English, the same verb can allow multiple different structures; for
example, "Bobby kicked", "Bobby kicked the ball", and "Bobby kicked me the ball" are all valid
English sentences.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Types of object
• 2 Forms of object

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• 3 The object in
linguistics
• 4 See also

• 5 External links

[edit] Types of object


Objects fall into three classes: direct objects, prepositional objects, and non-prepositional
indirect objects. An indirect object is the recipient of the direct object, or an otherwise affected
participant in the event. For example, if three sentences are considered:

• In "We threw knives", knives is the direct object of the verb threw. It corresponds
to the accusative of languages with grammatical cases.
• In "They sent him a postcard", him is the (non-prepositional) indirect object of
the verb sent (which uses a double-object construction). It typically corresponds to the
dative case.
• In "We listened to the radio", the radio is the object of the preposition to, and the
prepositional object of the verb listened. It can correspond to a variety of cases and
complements.

In many languages, including German, Latin, and Classical Arabic, objects can change
form slightly (decline) to indicate what kind of object they are (their case). This does not happen
in English (though a few English pronouns do have separate subject and object forms); rather,
the type of object is indicated strictly by word order.

[edit] Forms of object


An object may take any of a number of forms, all of them nominal in some sense. Common
forms include:

• A noun or noun phrase, as in "I remembered her advice."


• An infinitive or infinitival clause, as in "I remembered to eat."
• A gerund or gerund phrase, as in "I remembered being there."
• A declarative content clause, as in "I remembered that he was blond."
• An interrogative content clause, as in "I remembered why she had left."
• A fused relative clause, as in "I remembered what she wanted me to."

[edit] The object in linguistics

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In inflected languages, objects may be marked using morphological case. In many
languages, the patient of a ditransitive verb is marked in the same way as the single object of a
monotransitive verb, and is called the direct object. The recipient has its own marking, and is
called the indirect object. In Latin and many other languages, the direct object is marked by the
accusative case, while the indirect object is typically marked by the dative case.

In more isolating languages such as English, objects are marked by their position in the
sentence or using adpositions (like to in I gave a book to him). Modern English preserves a case
distinction for pronouns, but it has conflated the accusative and the dative into a single objective
form (him, her, me, etc., which may function either as direct or indirect objects).

In some languages, the recipient of a ditransitive verb is marked in the same way as the
single object of a monotransitive verb, and is called the primary object. The patient of
ditransitive verbs has its own marking, and is called the secondary object. Such languages are
called dechticaetiative languages, and are mostly found among African languages.

An object can be turned into a syntactic subject using passive voice, if the language in
question has such a construction. In dative languages, the direct object is promoted, while in
dechticaetiative languages the primary object is promoted. English shares this property with
dechticaetiative languages, since non-prepositional indirect objects can be promoted:

His colleagues sent him a postcard.


He was sent a postcard.

In the immense majority of languages, where there is a preferred word order in the sentence,
the object is placed somewhere after the subject. Analytic languages additionally tend to place
the object after the verb, so that it remains separate from the subject.

Mathew Smith was a highly respected member of parliament with no ......... on his
character.

(a) sign

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(b) indication

(c) stain

(d) point
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At least that's what he thought until the press started trying to ......... up something
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(a) push

(b) dig

(c) spade

(d) fork
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Apparently when he was still at school, he didn't have a ticket for his train journey one
day and he was ..........

(a) found

(b) founded

(c) funded

(d) fined
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This piece of information was discovered by one keen local reporter and was ......... up
out of all proportion by the national press.

(a) blown

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(b) blew

(c) blowing

(d) blows

DIRECT OBJECTS
Direct objects can be found in the predicate of a sentence. They show who or what receives the
action of the verb or completes the meaning of the verb. To find a direct object, first find the
subject and the verb; then ask yourself who or what receives the action of the verb. The answer
.to the "who" or "what" question is the direct object

.EXAMPLE: The boy hit the ball with the bat


.Where is the action in this sentence? Yes, the verb is hit
Second, find the subject by asking who or what did the action. Who hit the ball?
.Correct, the boy hit the ball; boy is the subject
Then, to find the direct object, ask yourself who or what received the action of the verb.
?Ask, hit what
.Correct again! The ball received the action of being hit
Note that with the bat is a prepositional phrase. A direct object will never be found in a
.prepositional phrase. Try one more example

.EXAMPLE: Hurricanes frequently pound the Florida coastline

.Find the subject and the verb


.Correct, the subject is hurricanes and pound is the verb
?Now ask who or what received the action of pounding. Ask pound what
.You're right! The coastline received the action; it is the direct object

.Two or more direct objects can form a compound direct object

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Direct Objects:

o Some action verbs can stand alone in a sentence, and the sentence will still
make sense.
 Jim runs.
 Sally ate.
 Bill cried.
o Yet, there are quite a few action verbs that can’t stand alone. Most of the
time, these verbs need another word or phrase to make the sentence complete.
 Jim bought. [What?]
 Sally gave [What?]
 Bill threw. [What?]
o A noun or a pronoun that receives the action of a verb is called the direct
object. An action verb in combination with a direct object will often make the
sentence complete.
 Jim bought candles [candles is the direct object]
 Sally gave four dollars to the salvation army. [dollars is the direct
object]
 Bill threw the ball to Cindy [ball is the direct object].
 Bill threw it [it is a direct object]
 Remember that that there is a clear difference between a subject
and direct object. A direct object receives the action, whereas the subject
is performing the action [where an action verb is involved].

• Indirect Objects

• Indirect objects answer the question "to whom" or "for whom" is the action done.
An indirect object always comes before the direct object.
• I lent Sally my tools.
• Tools is the direct object, whereas Sally is the person for whom the lending is
being done. Sally comes before tools and therefore Sally is the indirect object. I could
phrase this sentence another way as well, changing this indirect object to a prepositional
phrase.
• I lent my tools to Sally.
• ‘to Sally’ now works as a prepositional phrase, and there is no longer any indirect
object.

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Direct and Indirect Objects
A direct object is the receiver of action within a sentence, as in "He hit the ball." Be careful
to distinguish between a direct object and an object complement:

• They named their daughter Natasha.

In that sentence, "daughter" is the direct object and "Natasha" is the object complement, which
renames or describes the direct object.

The indirect object identifies to or for whom or what the action of the verb is performed.
The direct object and indirect object are different people or places or things. The direct objects in
the sentences below are in boldface; the indirect objects are in italics.

• The instructor gave his students A's.


• Grandfather left Rosalita and Raoul all his money.
• Jo-Bob sold me her boat.

Incidentally, the word me (and similar object-form pronouns such as him, us, them) is not always
an indirect object; it will also serve, sometimes, as a direct object.

• Bless me/her/us!
• Call me/him/them if you have questions.

In English, nouns and their accompanying modifiers (articles and adjectives) do not change
form when they are used as objects or indirect objects, as they do in many other languages. "The
radio is on the desk" and "I borrowed the radio" contain exactly the same word form used for

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quite different functions. This is not true of pronouns, however, which use different forms for
different functions. (He [subject] loves his grandmother. His grandmother loves him [object].)
(See, also, pronoun cases.)

PRACTICE EXERCISE 2: Underline the indirect object in each of the following sentences.
.Remember that sentences may contain two or more indirect objects
.Since you are going to the sale at Target, please buy me a set of sheets, too .1

.The father bought the child an ice cream cone .2

.The doctor gave his patients elastic bands for exercise .3

.Jeremy gave his son a CD player and a stereo as a birthday gift .4

.Carlotta brought her son a set of toy soldiers once owned by her grandfather .5

.The reporters asked the mayor and the council many questions .6

.The real estate agent sold my sister a colonial style mansion .7

.The spa offered Maria and Antonio a full membership at half price .8

.The company will give you a refund if you are dissatisfied with the product 9

.The instructor will provide the students assistance with their homework assignments .10
.EXAMPLE: Joshua moved the table and chairs closer to the window

?What did Joshua move


.Correct! He moved both the table and chairs, a compound direct object

.Now you are ready to try the first practice exercise

PRACTICE EXERCISE 1: Underline the direct object in each of the following sentences.
.Remember that sentences may contain two or more direct objects

.Karen gave a dog biscuit to the puppy .1

.The ATM machine spewed money at the surprised young woman .2

.The librarian carried the books and magazines to the researcher .3

.Walking to school on a fall day, the children selected fallen leaves for show-and-tell .4

.Sparta defeated Athens in the Peloponnesian War .5

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.The company hired a personable manager for its customer service position .6

.The child needs a speech therapist to help her improve her enunciation .7

.The people of China gave pandas to the people of the United States .8

.Gary decorated the cake as a surprise for his family .9

Although she did not consider it a good influence, Jeanetta bought a new television for .10
.the family room

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CHECK YOUR ANSWERS ON PAGE 4

INDIRECT OBJECTS
Indirect objects are also found in the predicate and answer the question "to whom" or "for
whom." To identify an indirect object, first find the direct object and ask "to whom" or "for
.whom" the direct object is intended

.EXAMPLE: The employees gave David a party to celebrate his promotion

?What is the direct object? What was given


.Correct! The direct object is party; it receives the action of the verb gave
.Now, ask yourself "to whom" or "for whom" the party was given
.Correct again!! The indirect object is David; the party was given for David

:Some helpful hints

An indirect object cannot exist without a direct object. The indirect object must .1
.receive something from the direct object
.Indirect objects usually are placed in front of a direct object .2
.An indirect object will never be in a prepositional phrase .3

.EXAMPLE: Jessica bought her mother a new car

Notice the word order of the sentence: mother is the indirect object and comes before the direct
.object car

Also notice that if the sentence had been reworded with a prepositional phrase, it would no
.longer contain an indirect object

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.EXAMPLE: Jessica bought a new car for her mother

Car is still the direct object, but the indirect object has been replaced with a prepositional phrase.
.Now you try it

PRACTICE EXERCISE 2: Underline the indirect object in each of the following sentences.
.Remember that sentences may contain two or more indirect objects

.Since you are going to the sale at Target, please buy me a set of sheets, too .1

.The father bought the child an ice cream cone .2

.The doctor gave his patients elastic bands for exercise .3

.Jeremy gave his son a CD player and a stereo as a birthday gift .4

.Carlotta brought her son a set of toy soldiers once owned by her grandfather .5

.The reporters asked the mayor and the council many questions .6

.The real estate agent sold my sister a colonial style mansion .7

.The spa offered Maria and Antonio a full membership at half price .8

.The company will give you a refund if you are dissatisfied with the product 9

.The instructor will provide the students assistance with their homework assignments .10

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PS-4 DIRECT AND INDIRECT OBJECTS
ANSWERS

PRACTICE EXERCISE 1

biscuit .1
money .2
books, magazines .3
leaves .4
Athens .5
manager .6
therapist .7
pandas .8
cake .9
it, television .10

PRACTICE EXERCISE 2

Direct Object Indirect Object

set me .1
cone child .2
bands patients .3
player, stereo son .4
set son .5
questions mayor, council .6
mansion sister .7
membership Maria, Antonio .8
refund you .9
assistance students .10

DIRECT OBJECTS
Direct objects can be found in the predicate of a sentence. They show who or what receives the
action of the verb or completes the meaning of the verb. To find a direct object, first find the
subject and the verb; then ask yourself who or what receives the action of the verb. The answer
.to the "who" or "what" question is the direct object

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PS-4 DIRECT AND INDIRECT OBJECTS

.EXAMPLE: The boy hit the ball with the bat


.Where is the action in this sentence? Yes, the verb is hit
Second, find the subject by asking who or what did the action. Who hit the ball?
.Correct, the boy hit the ball; boy is the subject
Then, to find the direct object, ask yourself who or what received the action of the verb.
?Ask, hit what
.Correct again! The ball received the action of being hit
Note that with the bat is a prepositional phrase. A direct object will never be found in a
.prepositional phrase. Try one more example

.EXAMPLE: Hurricanes frequently pound the Florida coastline

.Find the subject and the verb


.Correct, the subject is hurricanes and pound is the verb
?Now ask who or what received the action of pounding. Ask pound what
.You're right! The coastline received the action; it is the direct object

.Two or more direct objects can form a compound direct object

.EXAMPLE: Joshua moved the table and chairs closer to the window

?What did Joshua move


.Correct! He moved both the table and chairs, a compound direct object

.Now you are ready to try the first practice exercise

PRACTICE EXERCISE 1: Underline the direct object in each of the following sentences.
.Remember that sentences may contain two or more direct objects

.Karen gave a dog biscuit to the puppy .1

.The ATM machine spewed money at the surprised young woman .2

.The librarian carried the books and magazines to the researcher .3

.Walking to school on a fall day, the children selected fallen leaves for show-and-tell .4

.Sparta defeated Athens in the Peloponnesian War .5

.The company hired a personable manager for its customer service position .6

.The child needs a speech therapist to help her improve her enunciation .7

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PS-4 DIRECT AND INDIRECT OBJECTS
.The people of China gave pandas to the people of the United States .8

.Gary decorated the cake as a surprise for his family .9

Although she did not consider it a good influence, Jeanetta bought a new television for .10
.the family room

CHECK YOUR ANSWERS ON PAGE 4

INDIRECT OBJECTS
Indirect objects are also found in the predicate and answer the question "to whom" or "for
whom." To identify an indirect object, first find the direct object and ask "to whom" or "for
.whom" the direct object is intended

.EXAMPLE: The employees gave David a party to celebrate his promotion

?What is the direct object? What was given


.Correct! The direct object is party; it receives the action of the verb gave
.Now, ask yourself "to whom" or "for whom" the party was given
.Correct again!! The indirect object is David; the party was given for David

:Some helpful hints

An indirect object cannot exist without a direct object. The indirect object must .1
.receive something from the direct object
.Indirect objects usually are placed in front of a direct object .2
.An indirect object will never be in a prepositional phrase .3

.EXAMPLE: Jessica bought her mother a new car

Notice the word order of the sentence: mother is the indirect object and comes before the direct
.object car

Also notice that if the sentence had been reworded with a prepositional phrase, it would no
.longer contain an indirect object

.EXAMPLE: Jessica bought a new car for her mother

Car is still the direct object, but the indirect object has been replaced with a prepositional phrase.
.Now you try it

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PS-4 DIRECT AND INDIRECT OBJECTS

PRACTICE EXERCISE 2: Underline the indirect object in each of the following sentences.
.Remember that sentences may contain two or more indirect objects

.Since you are going to the sale at Target, please buy me a set of sheets, too .1

.The father bought the child an ice cream cone .2

.The doctor gave his patients elastic bands for exercise .3

.Jeremy gave his son a CD player and a stereo as a birthday gift .4

.Carlotta brought her son a set of toy soldiers once owned by her grandfather .5

.The reporters asked the mayor and the council many questions .6

.The real estate agent sold my sister a colonial style mansion .7

.The spa offered Maria and Antonio a full membership at half price .8

.The company will give you a refund if you are dissatisfied with the product 9

.The instructor will provide the students assistance with their homework assignments .10

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ANSWERS

PRACTICE EXERCISE 1

biscuit .1
money .2
books, magazines .3
leaves .4
Athens .5
manager .6
therapist .7
pandas .8
cake .9
it, television .10

PRACTICE EXERCISE 2

Direct Object Indirect Object

set me .1
cone child .2
bands patients .3
player, stereo son .4
set son .5
questions mayor, council .6
mansion sister .7
membership Maria, Antonio .8
refund you .9
assistance students .10
FORM AND
FUNCTION
PAGE 8/9
Sentence Patterns from a Functional
Perspective
In order to summarise what we have learned, we will now look at some typical
sentence patterns from a functional perspective. We will then conclude this
section by looking at some untypical patterns, on the next page.

As we've seen, the Subject is usually (but not always) the first element in
a sentence, and it is followed by the verb:

Pattern 1

Subject Verb
David sings

The dog barked

Susan yawned

In this pattern, the verb is not followed by any Object, and we refer to this
as an intransitive verb. If the verb is monotransitive, it takes a Direct Object,
which follows the verb:

Pattern 2

Subject Verb Direct Object


David sings ballads

The professor wants to retire

The jury found the defendant guilty

In the ditransitive pattern, the verb is followed by an Indirect Object and a


Direct Object, in that order:

Pattern 3

Subject Verb Indirect Object Direct Object


The old man gave the children some money

My uncle sent me a present

The detectives asked Amy lots of questions

Adjuncts are syntactically peripheral to the rest of the sentence. They may
occur at the beginning and at the end of a sentence, and they may occur in all
three of the patterns above:

Pattern 4

(Adjunct) Subjec Ver Indirec Direct (Adjunct


t b t Object Object )

[1] Usually David sings in the bath

[2] Unfortunatel the wants to retire this year


y professor

[3] At the start the judge showed the jury the in a private
of the trial photograph chamber
s

Pattern 4 is essentially a conflation of the other three, with Adjuncts


added. We have bracketed the Adjuncts to show that they are optional. Strictly
speaking, Objects are also optional, since they are only required by
monotransitive and ditransitive verbs, as in the examples [2] and [3] above.

Match the sentences to the patterns:

1. The wall collapsed


A. Subject -- Verb

B. Subject -- Verb -- Direct Object

C. Subject -- Verb -- Indirect Object -- Direct Object

D. (Adjunct) -- Subject -- Verb -- Direct Object

E. (Adjunct) -- Subject -- Verb -- (Adjunct)


2. During the war, many people lost their homes
A. Subject -- Verb

B. Subject -- Verb -- Direct Object

C. Subject -- Verb -- Indirect Object -- Direct Object

D. (Adjunct) -- Subject -- Verb -- Direct Object

E. (Adjunct) -- Subject -- Verb -- (Adjunct)

3. I promised the children a trip to the zoo


A. Subject -- Verb

B. Subject -- Verb -- Direct Object

C. Subject -- Verb -- Indirect Object -- Direct Object

D. (Adjunct) -- Subject -- Verb -- Direct Object

E. (Adjunct) -- Subject -- Verb -- (Adjunct)

4. When he was 12, David moved to London


A. Subject -- Verb

B. Subject -- Verb -- Direct Object

C. Subject -- Verb -- Indirect Object -- Direct Object

D. (Adjunct) -- Subject -- Verb -- Direct Object

E. (Adjunct) -- Subject -- Verb -- (Adjunct)

5. Paul hired a bicycle


A. Subject -- Verb

B. Subject -- Verb -- Direct Object

C. Subject -- Verb -- Indirect Object -- Direct Object

D. (Adjunct) -- Subject -- Verb -- Direct Object

E. (Adjunct) -- Subject -- Verb -- (Adjunct)


. The wall collapsed
A. Subject -- Verb
B. Subject -- Verb -- Direct Object
C. Subject -- Verb -- Indirect Object -- Direct Object
D. (Adjunct) -- Subject -- Verb -- Direct Object
E. (Adjunct) -- Subject -- Verb -- (Adjunct)

2. During the war, many people lost their


homes
A. Subject -- Verb
B. Subject -- Verb -- Direct Object
C. Subject -- Verb -- Indirect Object -- Direct Object
D. (Adjunct) -- Subject -- Verb -- Direct Object
E. (Adjunct) -- Subject -- Verb -- (Adjunct)

3. I promised the children a trip to the zoo


A. Subject -- Verb
B. Subject -- Verb -- Direct Object
C. Subject -- Verb -- Indirect Object -- Direct Object
D. (Adjunct) -- Subject -- Verb -- Direct Object
E. (Adjunct) -- Subject -- Verb -- (Adjunct)

4. When he was 12, David moved to London


A. Subject -- Verb
B. Subject -- Verb -- Direct Object
C. Subject -- Verb -- Indirect Object -- Direct Object
D. (Adjunct) -- Subject -- Verb -- Direct Object
E. (Adjunct) -- Subject -- Verb -- (Adjunct)
See review below

5. Paul hired a bicycle


A. Subject -- Verb
B. Subject -- Verb -- Direct Object
C. Subject -- Verb -- Indirect Object -- Direct Object
D. (Adjunct) -- Subject -- Verb -- Direct Object
E. (Adjunct) -- Subject -- Verb -- (Adjunct)

Review
The patterns for these sentences are shown in the
table below:
(Adjun Subje Ve Indire Dire (Adjun
ct) ct rb ct Object ct Object ct)
=
Senten collapse
The wall Pattern
ce 1 d A
=
Senten During the many their
lost Pattern
ce 2 war people homes D

=
Senten promise the a trip to
I Pattern
ce 3 d children the zoo C

=
Senten When he
David moved to London Pattern
ce 4 was 12 E

=
Senten
Paul hired a bicycle Pattern
ce 5 B

Lesson 4: Sentence Structure

Indirect Objects
In the last section, you learned about direct objects. Now, you will learn about indirect objects.

Indirect Objects

Howard Faulkner states in his book "Rules of the Game An Introductory English Grammar" that "If
a verb has two objects, the first, the indirect object, may indicate the recipient of the action, the second,
the direct object, what was affected:

1. He gave me two dollars.


2. She brought her father the book.
3. He asked her a question.
4. I told the jury the truth.

In the first sentence, the word me is the indirect object. The direct object is two dollars.

In the second sentence, father is the indirect object. The direct object is book.

In the third sentence, her is the indirect object. Question is the direct object.

In the fourth sentence, jury is the indirect object. Truth is the direct object.

Indirect Objects are also stated in the book Scholastic Guides Checking Your Grammar by Marvin
Terban on page 37-38.

He states that "The indirect object receives the action of the verb-indirectly. Should I send David
some extra money?"

David is the indirect object. He is receiving the money.


Exercises

Directions: Underline the indirect object in each sentence.

1. My aunt likes to give me candy for my Christmas and Birthday.

2. I bought a book for my aunt on her birthday.

3. My church provided a Thanksgiving dinner for us one year.

4. Christy gave Megan her favorite mystery book.

5. Tim's mother bought him a new basketball for his birthday.

Exercises

Directions: Write five sentences that have an indirect and direct object. Mark I.O above the
indirect object

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

1. Please give me that book.


a. direct object b. indirect object c. object of the preposition d.
predicate nominative

2. He put the books on the desk.


a. direct object b. indirect object c. object of the preposition d.
predicate nominative

3. The conference participants studied the teachings of Ghandi.


a. direct object b. indirect object c. object of the preposition d.
predicate nominative
4. The last contestant was a visitor from Germany.
a. direct object b. indirect object c. object of the preposition d.
predicate nominative

5. The captain provided his officers a plan of attack.


a. direct object b. indirect object c. object of the preposition d.
predicate nominative

6. Did Joseph give the students the directions for their assignment?
a. direct object b. indirect object c. object of the preposition d.
predicate nominative

7. Susan did not offer her candy to any of the other kids.
a. direct object b. indirect object c. object of the preposition d.
predicate nominative

8. They are hiding in the closet.


a. direct object b. indirect object c. object of the preposition d.
predicate nominative

9. The woman who won the award is Tom's neighbor.


a. direct object b. indirect object c. object of the preposition d.
predicate nominative

10. Wayne will send you a postcard from Italy.


a. direct object b. indirect object c. object of the preposition d.
predicate nominative

11. She waved to the child standing on the platform.


a. direct object b. indirect object c. object of the preposition d.
predicate nominative

12. She reminded the audience of Grace Kelly.


a. direct object b. indirect object c. object of the preposition d.
predicate nominative

13. Some would argue that the presidency has been made into a joke.
a. direct object b. indirect object c. object of the preposition d.
predicate nominative

14. Their understanding of the situation has helped the athlete's chances of winning
the competition.
a. direct object b. indirect object c. object of the preposition d.
predicate nominative
15. Sharon thinks Tom is the best person for the job.
a. direct object b. indirect object c. object of the preposition d.
predicate nominative

16. She boarded the plane with a dog hidden in her purse.
a. direct object b. indirect object c. object of the preposition d.
predicate nominative

17. The car that has been on the corner all week is a Pinto.
a. direct object b. indirect object c. object of the preposition d.
predicate nominative

18. Robert saved a cookie for his daughter.


a. direct object b. indirect object c. object of the preposition d.
predicate nominative

19. The Hope Diamond, which is truly remarkable, is rarely worn in public.
a. direct object b. indirect object c. object of the preposition d.
predicate nominative

20. Many of the writers submitted work that was too terrible to publish.
a. direct object b. indirect object c. object of the preposition d.
predicate nominative

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