Objects

An object is a noun or a pronoun that follows a verb and completes the verb’s meaning.  There are two kinds of objects:  direct objects and indirect objects.  To identify a direct object, ask yourself whom or what is affected by the verb.  (NOTE:  there may not be a direct object in the sentence.) 

 1.  A direct object directly "receives" the action of the sentence.  

• Maria locked the door.  (Maria locked what? the door.  door is the direct object) 

• Isaac enjoyed the beautiful sunny day.  (Isaac enjoyed what?  the day.  day is the DO) 

• Nicky admires Gail.  (Nicky admires whom?  Gail.  Gail is the direct  object) 

 Be careful to distinguish between a direct object and an object complement which completes the sense of a subject, object, or a verb.   ( See  Complements)

•   They call the wind Maria.  (wind is the direct object and Maria is the object complement because it describes the direct object.)

2.  An indirect object is the recipient of the direct object. To identify an indirect object, ask yourself to whom?, to what?, for whom?, for what? after the verb.  IF there is an answer to the question, you have an indirect object.  

• Angela offered Jerry a dish of fudge-ripple ice cream.  (Angela offered what? a dish.  offered to whom?  to  Jerry.  Jerry is the indirect object.)

• Geoff loaned Helga money for the drinks.   (Geoff loaned what?  money  loaned to whom?  Helga.  Helga is the indirect object.)

Some verbs do not have objects:  “David cheers for Brazil’s team enthusiastically.”  “Later today, Holly will go to the mall.”

NOTE:  In many languages, nouns and noun modifiers change form when they function as objects.  The English language does not do this.  "A rose is a rose is a rose", no matter what the part of speech it is being used as.  Pronouns, on the other hand, do use different forms depending on their function in the sentence.   Subjects use the nominative case (I, he, she, they, we, who), and objects use the objective case (me, him, her, them, us, whom).  The pronouns it and you stay the same for both cases.

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs

Verbs that take objects are transitive verbs.  Verbs that do not take objects are intransitive verbs.  Some verbs can be either transitive or intransitive verbs.  (See Verbs)

• She wished the visitors would leave her house.  (house is the DO of the verb leave)

• Did they leave?  (There is no DO in this sentence.)

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