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I am trying to learn about direct and indirect objects. My question is sadly very simple but I'm unsure.
In the sentence below what is the direct object & what is the indirect object?
She should explain it to me.
So I think the subject is She
Verb is explain
the direct object I believe is it and the indirect object me
Is that correct and if not why?
In sentences like this many linguists distinguish two categories which your teacher may or may not distinguish.
Direct Object and Indirect Object are terms for syntactic roles. They are realized as noun phrases or pronouns.
Patient and Recipient are terms for semantic or thematic roles. They usually are realized either as noun phrases/pronouns or as preposition phrases.
In your sentence She should explain it to me:
it is both the Direct Object and the Patient
me is the Recipient but because this role is realized as a preposition phrase to me it is not an Indirect Object.
However, if your teacher does not recognize this distinction (and many teachers do not), you may describe me as the Indirect Object.
Your analysis is almost correct, except that the verb (phrase) is "should explain".
