Direct and Indirect Object

 

What is Object? 

- An object is the person or thing that receives the action. 

- Usually, the object comes after the verb. 

- An object of a sentence can be noun, pronoun or a noun phrase on which the action is being performed. 

- Object pronouns include - Me, him, her, it, us, them, you, whom. 

- Example:

Vidya eats an apple. 

In this example, object is the "apple", because it is being acted upon. 

- Another easy way to find object is to find the verb in a sentence and then ask question words What/Whom to identify the object. 

From the above example we can find that verb is "eats".

Find the object by asking - What does Vidya eat?

Answer: Apple. 

Objects can be further classified into two types:

1. Direct Object

2. Indirect Object

1. Direct Object:

A direct Object is a noun or a pronoun that receives the action of a verb directly. 

- Ask question -> What/Who/Whom to the verb to identify the direct Object. 

- It is possible that a sentence with a direct object may or may not have indirect object. 

2. Indirect Object

An indirect object is a noun or a pronoun that receives the action through the direct object of a sentence. 

- Ask question ->  to Whom/for Whom/for What the action of the verb is performed. 

- There can't be an indirect object without a direct object. 

- Indirect object comes first in a sentence. We can also put direct object first, but in that case we have to use a suitable preposition like to, for, from etc. before the indirect object. 

Example

1. Neha sent him a gift. 

In this example -

Neha - Subject

sent - Verb

him - Indirect object (For whom did Neha send a gift?) 

a gift - Direct object (What did Neha sent him?) 

2. Riya passed Krish the cake. 

In this example -

Riya - Subject

Passed - Verb

Krish - Indirect object (Who received the cake?) 

the cake - Direct Object (What did Riya pass?) 

3. The postman gave a letter to Gaurav. 

In this example we can see that direct object "letter" comes first and preposition "to" is used before the indirect object "Gaurav".

The postman - Subject

gave - Verb

a letter - Direct object

to - Preposition

Gaurav - Indirect object. 

Identify the direct and indirect object from the given examples -

1. Vaishnavi gave her friend a storybook. 

2. Ram gave his wife a diamond ring. 

3. Aditya told his sister a joke. 

4. Gauri gave her pencil yo Shruti. 

5. My mother gave me some fruits to eat. 

6. Please bring me that file. 

7. She asked the teacher a question. 

8. The postman gave Gaurav a letter. 

9. They made a cake for her. 

10. Bhairavi gave me a book. 

Answers

1. Vaishnavi gave her friend a storybook. 

Direct object - a storybook

Indirect object - her friend

2. Ram gave his wife a diamond ring. 

Direct object - a diamond ring

Indirect object - his wife

3. Aditya told his sister a joke. 

Direct object - a joke

Indirect object - his sister

4. Gauri gave her pencil to Shruti. 

Direct object - pencil

Indirect object - Shruti

5. My mother gave me some fruits to eat. 

Direct object - fruits

Indirect object - me

6. Please bring me that file. 

Direct object - file

Indirect object - me

7. She asked the teacher a question. 

Direct object - a question

Indirect object - the teacher

8. The postman gave Gaurav a letter. 

Direct object - a letter

Indirect object - Gaurav

9. They made a cake for her. 

Direct object - a cake 

Indirect object - her

10. Bhairavi gave me a book. 

Direct object - a book

Indirect object - me