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In the sentence

I take my kids to school.

I would be the subject and the verb would be take.

Now, as the verb take is acted upon the kids, I thought my kids was the direct object and the school would be the indirect object.

However, my professor said that the school is actually a direct object.

I'm wondering, do I have both the kids and the school as two separate direct objects?

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    Your professor appears not to know what a direct object is. School is the object of the preposition to, but the term ‘direct object’ is not usually applied to prepositional objects. Jan 15, 2019 at 2:18
  • ... and the PP "to school" is a complement of "take".
    – BillJ
    Jan 15, 2019 at 12:53

3 Answers 3

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Indirect object is when you can say it without the preposition "to".

I gave the book to him.

has direct object "the book" but no indirect object.

I gave him the book.

has direct object "the book" and indirect object "him".

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In the sentence

'I take my kids to school'

my kids is the direct object as to take is a transitive verb.

The phrase to school is the adverbial modifier.

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  • I think it would be better to say that the PP "to school" is a goal complement, not a modifier, since it has to be licensed by a verb of motion, in this case "take".
    – BillJ
    Jan 15, 2019 at 18:43
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user307254 is correct.

To further elaborate,

Indirect objects show whom the action is for.

Example:

I buy my mum a present.

a present = direct object

my mum = indirect object

However, if you say "I buy a present for my mum."

a present = direct object

But now my mum is part of a prepositional phrase (or adverbial modifier) beginning with the preposition "for".

In your example, "to school" is a prepositional phrase with school being the object of a preposition.

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