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Direct and Indirect Object

The document discusses direct and indirect objects. A direct object answers the question "what?" and receives the action of the verb directly. An indirect object answers "to whom?" or "for whom?" and indicates the recipient of the direct object. The document provides examples of sentences with direct objects like "David repaired his car" and indirect objects like "They sent him a postcard." It also briefly discusses complements, which complete the sense of subjects, objects or verbs.

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JeanJames Köning
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213 views

Direct and Indirect Object

The document discusses direct and indirect objects. A direct object answers the question "what?" and receives the action of the verb directly. An indirect object answers "to whom?" or "for whom?" and indicates the recipient of the direct object. The document provides examples of sentences with direct objects like "David repaired his car" and indirect objects like "They sent him a postcard." It also briefly discusses complements, which complete the sense of subjects, objects or verbs.

Uploaded by

JeanJames Köning
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Direct and Indirect Object


What is an object?
An object in grammar is a part of a sentence, and often part of
the predicate. It refers to someone or something involved in
the subject's "performance" of the verb. It is what the verb is
being done to. As an example, the following sentence is given:

Leila wrote the poem - the "poem" is the object.

"Leila" is the subject, the doer or performer, while "wrote" is the


action, and "poem" is the object involved in the action.

Types of object
There are two types of object: direct and indirect objects
Direct object
A direct object answers the question "What?"
Examples:

David repaired his car - his car is the direct


object of the verb repaired ( What did David
repair?)

The man visited the museum - the museum is


the direct object of the verb visited (what did
the man visit?)

Indirect Object
An indirect object answers the question "To whom?" or "For
whom?". An indirect object is the recipient of the direct object,
or an otherwise affected participant in the event. There must be
a direct object for an indirect object to be placed in a sentence.
In other words an indirect object cannot exist without a direct
object.
Examples:

They sent him a postcard - him is the indirect


object of the verb sent.(To whom did they send a
postcard?)

He bought his son a bike - his son is the indirect


object of the verb bought. (For whom he bought
a bike?)

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.")

o The 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.
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.)

Objeto directo e indirecto

Diferencias entre el objeto directo y el objeto indirecto.


Objeto Directo

Tambin se llama complemento directo. Es el complemento que


recibe directamente y en primer lugar la accin del verbo.

Miguel lee el peridico


OD
El objeto directo puede ser

un nombre: Miguel lee el peridico

una persona (con preposicin a): Miguel lee a Vargas Llosa

un pronombre personal tono (LO, LA, LOS, LAS): Miguel lo lee

Objeto Indirecto

Tambin se llama complemento indirecto. Este complemento


recibe la accin del verbo despus del complemento directo.

Miguel lee el peridico a los alumnos


OD

OI

El complemento indirecto se suele confundir con el


complemento directo porque los dos pueden llevar la
preposicin a y porque los dos se forman con un nombre.

Diferencias

El complemento indirecto siempre lleva preposicin

Miguel lee el peridico *los alumnos > A los alumnos


El complemento indirecto puede ser un pronombre personal
tono: LE, LES

Miguel les lee el peridico (a los alumnos)


La manera ms sencilla de reconocer a estos complementos es
sustituirlos por los pronombres personales tonos
correspondientes.

El complemento directo se puede sustituir por LO, LA, LOS, LAS:


Miguel lo lee a los alumnos

El complemento indirecto se puede sustituir por LE, LES: Miguel


les lee el peridico

El pronombre LE-LES se convierte en SE!!

Cuando sustituimos los dos complementos (objeto directo y


objeto indirecto) en la misma oracin por los pronombres
personales tonos el pronombre LE-LES se convierte en SE

Miguel lee el peridico a los alumnos > Miguel se lo lee

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