Direct vs.
Indirect
Objects
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Objectives
• Learn what direct and indirect objects are
• Differentiate between direct objects and indirect objects
• Use direct and indirect objects correctly
Sentence structure
Transitive Direct Indirect
verb Object Object
Subject (Optional)
Intransitive When, where, how,
Verb for how long, with
whom
A subject
• Is a noun, noun phrase or pronoun that refers to a person,
place, animal or thing.
• It is usually the agent of the sentence.
• The agent is the one doing the verb, the one that performs
the action.
• For example: My mother ran to the store to get some last-
minute groceries.
A transitive verb
• Is a verb that requires an object.
• There are verbs like “to walk”, “to sleep”, “to dance” that
deliver a complete meaning on their own; these are called
intransitive verbs.
✓“I danced.”
• Transitive verbs, however, need more information to
complete their meaning.
✓ For example: “I found…?”
✓The verb “to find” is a transitive verb because, when using that verb,
it requires you to say what was found; otherwise, the idea is
incomplete.
What is an object?
• An object is a noun, a noun phrase or a pronoun that
refers to a person, place or thing.
• It is the recipient of the action of a transitive verb.
• Transitive verbs allow for two types of objects: direct
objects and indirect objects.
A direct object (DO)
• Is a noun or noun phrase that identifies who or what
receives the action of a transitive verb.
• Answers the question “Whom? (formal)/Who? (informal)”
✓ I saw Martha (DO).
✓ Whom did you see? Martha (DO)
✓ Martha is the direct object of the verb ”to see”.
• Can also be the product of the action in a question that
starts with “What?”.
✓ He wrote a letter (DO).
✓ What did he write? A letter (DO)
✓ A letter is the direct object of the verb “to write”.
Indirect Object (IO)
• Is a noun or a noun phrase that refers to the person or thing
that receives the result of a transitive verb.
• If the direct object is the product of the action, the indirect
object is the recipient of that product.
• Answers the questions “To whom? For whom?” and “To
what? For what?”
✓ He wrote Martha (IO) a letter.
✓ To whom did he write a letter? (Formal)
✓ Who did he write a letter to? (Informal)
✓ Martha is the indirect object of the verb “to write”.
Position
• Both objects come after the verb.
• The indirect object always needs a direct object with it. The
indirect object usually comes before the direct object.
✓ She gave her mom a birthday card.
• The indirect object can also be used with a preposition (“to”
or “for”), in which case the indirect object must come after
the direct object.
✓ (Incorrect) I wrote to my sister a letter.
✓ (Correct) I wrote a letter to my sister.
✓ (Correct) I wrote my sister a letter.
Position
• Do not place a word in between a verb and its direct
object, unless it is an indirect object.
✓ (Incorrect) I wrote yesterday a letter to my sister.
✓ (Correct) I wrote a letter to my sister yesterday.
✓ (Correct) Yesterday, I wrote my sister a letter.
Subject Pronouns
• Personal pronouns refer back to people and things that
have already been identified.
• They have different subject and object forms, except for
you (sing. or plural) and it: you and it stay the same.
• They can act as the subject of a clause. We use them
before a verb to show who is performing the action.
Grammatical Person Singular Plural
1st person I We
2nd person You You
3rd person He, she, it They
Object Pronouns (OP)
• Are used to replace the direct object and/or the indirect
object in a sentence.
• Personal object pronouns are used after the verb or after a
preposition.
Grammatical Person Singular Plural
1st person Me Us
2nd person You You
✓ 3rd person Him, her, it Them
✓ Max gave me (object pronoun) roses for my birthday.
✓ They sent us (object pronoun) an invitation for the wedding.
✓ The contract? I sent it (object pronoun) to you (object pronoun) via
email.
Subject Pronouns (SP) and Object
Pronouns (OP)
• I, me
➢ I and me refer to the speaker or writer. I is the subject form
and me is the object form.
➢I (SP) like you. Do you like me (OP)?
• You
➢ You refers to the listener or reader. It is both the subject and
the object form. You can refer to one person or more than one
person.
➢The context let us know if it’s singular or plural.
➢You (SP) overslept. I told you (OP) to go to sleep early.
Subject Pronouns (SP) and Object
Pronouns (OP)
• He, him
➢ Singular third person masculine pronouns. He is the subject
form and him is the object form.
➢He (SP) bought roses for his wife. She bought cologne for him
(OP).
• She, her
➢ Singular third person feminine pronouns. She is the subject
form and her is the object form.
➢ She (SP) wanted chocolates. He bought her (OP) chocolates.
Subject Pronouns (SP) and Object
Pronouns (OP)
• It
➢ Refers to lifeless things, animals, situations, ideas or abstract
entities.
➢ As a subject, it can be used as an empty pronoun to place in the
subject position when there is no other subject, particularly when
talking about weather or time.
➢ It is also an object
➢ It (SP) is right by the corner. You will see it (OP) as soon as you
go in.
Subject Pronouns (SP) and Object
Pronouns (OP)
• We, us
➢ We and us refer to different groups of people, but always including
the speaker. We is the subject form and us is the object form.
➢ We (SP) just got here. Did they call us (OP)?
• They, them
➢ They and them refer to specific groups of people, things and
animals.
➢ They is the subject form and them is the object form.
➢ They (SP) are too expensive. I’m not buying them (OP).
Works Cited
Allen, Shundalyn. Who vs. Whom. 5 June 2020, www.grammarly.com/blog/who-vs-whom-
its-not-as-complicated-as-you-might-think/.
Cambridge University Press. “Objects - English Grammar Today.” Cambridge Dictionary,
2020, dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/objects?q=Objects.
Cambridge University Press. "Pronouns: Personal ( I, Me, You, Him, It, They, Etc.) -
English Grammar Today - Cambridge Dictionary." 2020. Web. 16 Oct. 2020.
Cambridge University Press. "Verb Patterns: With and without Objects." English Grammar
Today - Cambridge Dictionary. 2020. Web. 16 Oct. 2020.
Espresso English. Common English Mistakes with Direct and Indirect Objects. Youtube,
2017,
www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=182&v=U0daTW1kVus&feature=emb_title.
Accessed 1 Sept. 2020.
Nordquist, Richard. “Definition of Objects in English Grammar, With
Examples.” ThoughtCo, 2019, www.thoughtco.com/object-in-grammar-1691445.
Nordquist, Richard. “How Direct Objects Are Used in English Grammar.” ThoughtCo,
2020, www.thoughtco.com/what-is-a-direct-object-1690459.
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