T HE D IRECT

O BJECT
Recognize a direct object
when you see one.
A direct object will follow a transitive verb [a type of action
verb]. Direct objects can be nouns, pronouns,phrases,
or clauses. If you can identify the subject andverb in a
sentence, then finding the direct object—if one exists—is easy.
Just remember this simple formula:

S U B J E C T + V E R B + what? or who? = D I R E C T O B J E C T

Here are examples of the formula in action:

Zi ppy and Mauric e pl ayed soccer with a grapefruit

pul led from a bac k yard tree.
Zippy, Maurice = subjects; played = verb. Zippy and
Maurice played what? Soccer = direct object.

Zi ppy acci dentall y ki cked Maurice in the s hi n.

Zippy = subject; kicked = verb. Zippy

kicked who? Maurice = direct object.

Sometimes direct objects are single words

like soccer and Maurice; other times they are phrases or
clauses. The formula nevertheless works the same.

Syl i na hates biting her fingernails .

Sylina = subject; hates = verb. Sylina hates what? Biting

her fingernails [a gerund phrase] = direct object.

Even wors e, Syl i na hates when Mom lectures her

about hand care .

Sylina = subject; hates = verb. Sylina hates what? When

Mom lectures her about hand care [a subordinate
clause] = direct object.

Direct objects can also follow verbals—infinitives,gerunds,

and participles. Use this abbreviated version of the formula:

verbal + what? or who? = direct object

Here are some examples:

To s ee magnified blood cells , Gus s qui nted i nto
the mic rosc ope on the lab tabl e.

To see = infinitive. To see what? Blood cells = direct object.

Gus bought contact l ens es bec aus e he wanted to

s ee the beautiful Miranda , his lab partner, more
cl earl y.

To see = infinitive. To see who? The beautiful Miranda =

direct object.

Dragging her seventy -five pound German

shepherd through the door is Ros eanne's l eas t
fav ori te part of going to the v et.

Dragging = gerund. Dragging what? Her seventy-five

pound German shepherd = direct object.

Heapi ng his plate wi th fried chick en, Cl yde wi nk ed

at Del ores, the c ook.

Heaping = participle. Heaping what? His plate= direct

object.
Don't mistake a direct
object for a subject
complement.
Only action verbs can have direct objects. If the verb is linking,
then the word that answers the what? or who?question is
a subject complement.

The s pac e al ien from the planet Zortek acci dentall y

l ock ed his keys i n his s pace s hi p.

Alien = subject; locked = action verb. The space alien

locked what? His keys = direct object.

The s pac e al ien was happy to fi nd a s pare k ey

taped under the wing.

Alien = subject; was = linking verb. The space alien

was what? Happy = subject complement.

Don't use subject pronouns

as direct objects.
The chart below contains subject and object pronouns.
Because direct objects are objects, always use the objective
form of the pronoun when you need a direct object.

Subjec t Prono uns Objec t Pro no uns

I me
we us
you you
he, she, it him, her, it
they them
who whom

Check out these sample sentences:

After I give my dog Oreo a sc oop of peanut butter,

s he al ways kiss es me with her stick y tongue.

She = subject; kisses = verb. She kisses who? Me= direct

object.

Bec ause J o had ski pped Mr. Dunc an's class five
times in a row, s he ducked out of si ght whenever
s he s potted him on campus .
She = subject; spotted = verb. She spotted who?Him =
direct object.

Bec ause David was al ways eati ng her food,

Theres a s neak ed c orn c hi ps and c andy bars i nto
her room and hid them i n the c lothes hamper.

Theresa = subject; hid = verb. Theresa hid what? Them =

direct object.

Printer Fabulous!

Home • Terms • Exercises • MOOC • Handouts • Presentations

• Videos • Rules • About • Shop • Feedback
©1997 - 2018 by Robin L. Simmons*
All Rights Reserved.

In grammar, the direct object of a transitive verb is the noun

group which refers to someone or something directly affected by
or involved in the action performed by the subject. For example, in
'I sawhim yesterday', 'him' is the direct object. Compare indirect
object.

In English grammar, a direct object is a noun, noun phrase, or pronoun that

identifies what or who receives the action of a transitive
verb in a clause or sentence.

Typically (but not always), the subject of a clause performs an action, and the
direct object is acted upon by the subject: Jake [subject] baked [transitive
verb] a cake [direct object]. If a clause also contains an indirect object, the
indirect object usually appears between the verb and the direct
object: Jake [subject] baked[transitive verb] Kate [indirect object] a
cake [direct object].

When pronouns function as direct objects, they customarily take the form of
the objective case. The objective forms of English pronouns are me, us, you,
him, her, it, them, whom and whomever. (Note that you and it have the
same forms in the subjective case.)

Examples and Observations

 "She closed the carton carefully. First she kissed her father, then she
kissed her mother. Then she opened the lid again, lifted the pig out,
and held itagainst her cheek."
(E.B. White, Charlotte's Web. Harper & Brothers, 1952)
 "Momma opened boxes of crispy crackers . . .. I sliced onions, and
Bailey opened two or even three cans of sardines."
(Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Random House,
1969)
 "But if thought corrupts language, language can also
corrupt thought."
(George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language," 1946)
 "We tell ourselves stories in order to live."
(Joan Didion, The White Album. Simon & Schuster, 1979)

 "You can't test courage cautiously."

(Annie Dillard, An American Childhood. Harper & Row, 1987)
 "[The developers] bulldozed the banks to fill in the bottom, and
landscaped the flow of water that remained."
(Edward Hoagland, "The Courage of Turtles." The Village Voice,
December 12, 1968)
 In a single afternoon, my pet terrier killed two rats and a snake.

 Compound Direct Objects

"[A] verb may have more than one direct object, called a compound
direct object. If a sentence contains a compound direct object,
asking Whom? or What? after the action verb will give you two or
more answers.

Buzz Aldrin explored the moon and outer space.

He copiloted Gemini 12 and Apollo 11 in space.

In the second example, space is the object of the preposition in. It is

not a direct object."
(Prentice Hall Writing and Grammar: Communication in Action.
Prentice Hall, 2001)

 Active and Passive Clauses

"Direct objects are always noun phrases (or their equivalents,
e.g., nominal clauses). The direct object of an active clause can
typically become the subject of a passive clause:

Everybody hated the teacher.

(active: the teacher is direct object)

The teacher was hated by everybody.

(passive: the teacher is subject)"

(Ronald Carter and Michael McCarthy, Cambridge Grammar of

English. Cambridge University Press, 2006)

 Word Order in Clauses With Both Direct Objects and

Indirect Objects
"In English clauses with both a direct and an indirect object, there are
two common orders of these phrases. If the indirect object is marked
by a preposition (usually to), the direct object comes immediately after
the verb, and the phrase with the indirect object comes after that, as
in I sent a letter to my love, where a letter is the direct object of sent.
In the alternative order, there is no preposition, and the direct object
is the second of the two noun phrases, as in I sent my love a
 letter (where a letter is still the direct object of sent)."
(James R. Hurford, Grammar: A Student's Guide. Cambridge
University Press, 1994)

 Implied Direct Objects in Idioms

"Some transitive phrasal verbs do not use their direct object when
the direct object is implied in the meaning of the idiom. For example,
with the phrasal verb pull over (to move a vehicle out of the flow of
traffic, and slow down or stop), it's not necessary to say 'I pulled the
car over' because the caris implied by the idiom. You can simply say 'I
pulled over.' However, . . . a direct object is required when the action is
directed at someone else. For example, when police officers direct
someone to pull a vehicle off the road and stop, a direct object is
required: the officer pulls over someone."
(Gail Brenner, Webster's New World American Idioms Handbook.
Wiley, 2003)
 Transformations
"The most exciting innovation of early generative grammar [was]
derivational rules (or transformations): rules that take a fully formed
structure and change some aspect of it. Sentence pairs like (7) provide
a simple illustration:

(7a) Dave really disliked that movie.(7b) That movie, Dave really
disliked.

These two sentences mean essentially the same, with only perhaps a
difference in emphasis. (7a) displays a more 'basic' order: the thing
that is disliked is in the 'normal' direct object position. By contrast,
in (7b), disliked is not followed by an object, as it should be, and that
movie is in a curious position before the subject. So, the proposal goes,
the grammar can capture the similarity between (7a) and (7b) by
saying that (7b) in fact is not generated by the formation rules. Rather,
it has an 'underlying form' that is more or less identical to (7a) and
that is generated by the formation rules. However, 'after' the formation
rules create the underlying form, a derivational rule moves that
movie to the front of the sentence to create the surface form."
(Ray Jackendoff, Foundations of Language: Brain, Meaning,
Grammar, Evolution. Oxford University Press, 2002)

 The Lighter Side of Direct Objects

- "Dinsdale, he was a nice boy. He nailed my head to a coffee table."
(Monty Python)
- "I could catch a monkey. If I was starving I could. I’d make poison
darts out of the poison of the deadly frogs. One milligram of that
poison can kill a monkey."
(Mackenzie Crook as Gareth in "Work Experience." The Office, 2001)