Questions tagged [direct-objects]
The direct-objects tag has no usage guidance.
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Is a verb transitive when used only with an indirect object? [closed]
I am learning about indirect objects and transitivity in French, but I believe that my question is also valid in English. Therefore, I'd like to sort this out in English.
If a verb is used only with ...
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Are Complements of Objects Considered 'Predicative' and 'Locative'?
Subjects can take two types of complements: predicative (adjectives and nominals) and locative. Is this the same for objects?
Examples:
He painted the town red.
I kept the money out of sight.
...
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In the sentence "The cat likes to eat fish," is the object "likes to eat fish" or just "fish"?
In the sentence "The cat likes to eat fish," is the object "likes to eat fish" or just "fish"?
I can see an argument for both, because the sentence "I like it" ...
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Does "to help" only have indirect object without having a direct object?
there. I stumbled upon this sentence: The charity gave them money to help them purchase a house. While trying to analyse it, I met some problems related to the verb "to help". My first ...
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'She' as sentence object [duplicate]
In the following sentence from Lolita, Humbert Humbert, in describing with maximum condescension the character of his new wife, states:
'I had always been aware of the possessive streak in her, but I ...
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Use of pronoun for objects in the preceding sentence [duplicate]
I am having some doubts regarding the use of pronouns.
Please have a look at the following sentences.
I picked a pen from the dustbin yesterday.
It writes very smoothly.
I picked a pen from the ...
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Semantic roles of 'direct object'
What are the primary semantic roles of 'direct object'? In particular, I was wondering what the semantic roles of 'direct object' are in such sentences as:
They crossed the river.
He promised her ...
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What is the direct object of "I imagined" in the context "as I imagined would be the case"? (i.e. I imagined what?)
In my previous question Is the phrase “as I imagined would be the case” grammatically correct and why?, someone referenced this other question: Where is the subject in "as was traditional for ...
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In the sentence "I must decide which English course to take," is "which English course to take" a noun clause?
I am hesitating to call it a noun clause because there is no conjugated verb (only the verbal "to take"). I am thinking that "which English course to take" is actually an ...
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Passive Voice with intransitive verbs?
With a sentence like, "He sat on the couch," is sat still being used as an intransitive verb since, in general, prepositional phrases cannot act as direct objects? To me, the prepositional ...
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Does a direct object always follow the transitive verb?
I am confused as to whether direct objects always follow the transitive verb. When I searched for an explanation online, it always says that direct objects always come after the transitive verb. I can'...
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Checklists for instruction - direct or second person?
For instruction within a professional org, we utilize checklists for the specific parties to self-assess their "products". Because there is some unfamiliarity with the subject matter, we ...
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Is the object necessary in “It teaches (all) to think”? [closed]
What are the differences between:
It teaches to think.
It teaches all to think.
I have found in a book that the 1st sentence isn’t correct. Is that right?
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"this drug induces sleeping" or "this drug induces sleep"?
I seem to have heard both structures before, but I don’t understand which it would be.
In other languages the second verb would be in the infinitive, but I have heard things like "Josh hates ...
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How do I understand the syntax of “He puts to good use things other people have thrown away”?
He puts to good use things other people have thrown away.
I have only seen “put something to good use”，but I haven’t ever seen this
pattern that is used here, which is more complicated.
Is “he put to ...
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Object vs adverbial
In the sentence:
"The teachers in our school are nice."
Is "in our school" an adverbial or part of the subject "The teachers in our school"?
Wondering because it would ...
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Interjecting adverbs between indirect and direct objects in ditransitive verb phrases?
I'm currently writing a paper about a syntactic issue in English and I was curious how these sounded to everyone.
Sam put carefully the coffee on the desk.
Sam put the coffee carefully on the desk.
...
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Is this a direct object or prepositional phrase?
Sorry if my question is not suitable for this forum. Although a native speaker, I am unfamiliar with grammatical rules in English (which consequently leads to a lack of comprehension in foreign ...
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Finding the direct object
In the following sentence, I'm trying to figure out which is the direct object:
On a trip like this, one must be careful about gas consumption.
I know that the subject is one and the verb is be ...
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"I have a friend VISITING me." Participle vs entire Direct Object Clause
"I have a friend visiting me." Which part of speech is "visiting" specifically?
Even if "a friend visiting me" is an entire direct object clause, what is the breakdown:
Is "visiting" a participle?
...
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"The direction traveled"
I have always found use of the phrase "the direction traveled" a bit odd, though not as striking as "travel a direction". People travel a distance and travel in a direction, but do ...
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"Get on": is it transitive, intransitive or both?
I'm new here (in the sense of asking a question, but I often use the site for reference.)
I have a question regarding the phrasal verb "get on", or more specifically when used with "with", eg. "get ...
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Can prepositions and verbs have an indirect object(s) or is the object of a verb(s) or preposition(s) always direct? [closed]
This is something I have always wondered, but I have been struggling with the subject-object thing for too long a time now, I can still very much in English learner.
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the adverb "all" as a direct object
merriam-webster.com:
1. I forgot all about paying the bill.
collinsdictionary.com:
2. He loves animals and he knows all about them.
As written in the dictionaries, "all" is an adverb ...
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On the optionally of "each other"/ "one another"
It seems that with some verbs "each other" is optional but not with others. Is there a general sense of when it is optional? Is there a terminology or concept behind this I can google for further ...
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Who vs. whom when the he/him test is unclear
I'm not sure whether the following sentence requires who/whom:
Does anyone know who/whom I can speak with about that?
If a similar sentence began with who/whom, it would be "whom." Whom can I speak ...
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Does a transitive verb always require a direct object?
If a verb is only listed in the dictionary as a transitive verb, can it be correctly used without a direct object, i.e. as an intransitive verb? We can use the verb "force" as an example, which is ...
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Complex object grammar and other things [closed]
I've seen a number of different phrases in different books describing the action of closing a door, and I'm not quite sure that I fully understand the grammar behind them. For example:
(1) [He] ...
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In the sentence "Go help yourself", is 'yourself' both the direct object and the subject?
In the sentence "Go help yourself", is 'yourself' both the direct object and the subject?
Can a subject and direct object be the exact same word in a sentence? If not, what is 'yourself' here?
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Misunderstanding the use of me/him/her/them/us
I'm aware that when the pronoun is also the object of a sentence we use these: me instead of I, them instead of they and so on.
But when I say:
He is a teacher, and her?
Why do I say her instead ...
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parenthetical sentence with coordinate clause sharing the same direct object
Is this grammatical in English?
An Italian wizard named Mirkius has found, and managed to control, a ferocious creature named Onestus
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Which pronoun should be used after the word ‘like’? [closed]
For example, which of the following is considered correct?:
Don't be like him
Don't be like he is
There are other examples I can't think of right now where people use him instead of ...
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Direct and Indirect objects in "I take my kids to school"
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 ...
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Transitive verbs without direct objects [closed]
My linguistics teacher said the sentence "She put the book on the table." is wrong without 'on the table' part. I disagree with him.
Isn't in a sense transitive verbs also intransitive when you speak ...
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Indirect object pronoun before direct object
I have seen a few people say that indirect objects that are in the form of a pronoun should be placed before the direct object in a sentence. Why is that? I didn’t know it mattered. For example:
“I ...
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Does 'neighbour', as a verb, take a direct object?
I heard, today, on an American documentary, the word 'neighbour' used as a verb, something I had not come across before. The OED tells me that the verb is obsolete or rare, but seems to have come back ...
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What distinguishes a predicative complement from an object?
Asked this on ELL but with no answer:
What makes be an intransitive verb? How do we know that the analysis of It is me as transitive by tradtional grammars is incorrect?
Take for example:
1. I gave ...
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Which is the direct object and which is the object complement in this sentence? [duplicate]
I was reading a book on English grammar and it stated that the object complement may also be an adjective. In the sentence "Roger called George heartless", Roger was the subject, called was the verb, ...
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Is the sentence, ' I want to learn skateboard.' , grammtically right?
Is the sentence, ' I want to learn skateboard.' , grammtically acceptable ?
Instead of 'learn to skateboard or learn skateboarding', is ' learn skateboard ' right expression?
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Terminology: Definition of the term "direct object"
In Michael Swan's "Practical English Usage", he states in section 16.1:
Many verbs besides auxiliaries can be followed by forms of other verbs
(or by structures including other verbs). This ...
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"I remember the advice he gave to me" Why add preposition to?
While I was reading a book, I stumbled upon a sentence "I remember the advice he gave to me".
From my understanding, give can be used in two ways.
First. Give + IO + DO. For example, "He gave me an ...
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Can an entire phrase consisting of a noun and a prepositional phrase modifying the noun be considered the direct object?
I have two questions related to the following sentence:
I saw pictures of animals.
My first question is, what is the direct object of the sentence?
(a) The direct object is pictures.
(b) The ...
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Does being in the accusative case guarantee the existence of a direct object?
I want to clear this matter up once and for all. Even though I have already asked a few questions on the site related to the nominative case and the accusative case, I still get confused by one ...
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Possible semantic roles for direct object
What are all possible semantic roles of direct object in English? also is there any dictionary which tells us about semantic role of direct object for transitive verbs?
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I don't care what they say
I don't care about what they say.
In the sentence above, they phrase what they say, is presumably the complement of the preposition about, and the preposition phrase about what they say is ...
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What is the meaning of *them* in this sentence? I mean what does them refer to in this sentence? [duplicate]
Do you remember the first time you talked about our future together and I said: “I’ll think about it later”?
I lied. I lied that I can be with you forever and never leave.
Do you remember our ...
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Which one is the direct object and indirect object?
Everyone is looking at us.
In the above sentence, "to look" is the verb, "everyone" the subject. Is "us" a direct object or indirect object?
How do you find the DO and IO?
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Diagramming a Sentence with a Causative Verb
For a Reed–Kellogg sentence diagram, how would you diagram a sentence with a causative verb like "made"? For example:
The hot weather made her want to swim.
I understand that "weather" is the ...
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what is the direct object & the indirect object in the sentence in my post
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 ...
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What type of object is 'whom' in this sentence?
In the sentence
Whom is she calling?
what type of object is whom?
Is whom an indirect object because she is doing the calling to a person referred to as whom?
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