What is an Object?
In English grammar, an object is a part of a sentence. It is a noun, a noun phrase or a pronoun that is affected by the action of the verb of the sentence. Not only verbs but also prepositions also can have objects. Within a sentence, objects can function in three ways.
Types of Objects
There are three types of objects:
- Direct object
- Indirect object
- Objects of preposition
1. Direct Object
What is a direct object?
Direct object is a noun or pronoun that receives the action of the subject. The subject does something and the result is the object. In such case the verb in the sentence is always an action verb. The object completes the meaning of the sentence.
Example:
- I wrote an article.
In this sentence, the subject, “I” does the action, i.e. “wrote”, and the result is “article”. So, “article” is the direct object. To know which is the direct object, we ask the subject and the verb, “whom” or “what”. If we get an answer, that answer is the direct object. If we do not get an answer, then there is no direct object.
In the above case, if we ask the subject and verb, what did “I” write? We get the answer, “article”. Then “article” is the direct object.
Example:
- The girl is drinking water.
In this case we ask the subject, “girl”, and the verb, “is drinking”, what the girl is drinking? Then get the answer, “water”. Hence “water” is the direct object.
2. Indirect object
What is an Indirect object?
In a sentence, the recipient of the action done by the subject is called the indirect object.
Example:
- Mother gave him a gift.
In the above sentence, “him” is the indirect object. If in a sentence, there are two objects, we ask the question, “to whom”. For example, in the above sentence we know gift is the direct object. We ask, to whom mother did give the gift? And we get the answer “him”. So “him” is the indirect Object.
3. Objects of a preposition
What is an Object of a preposition?
In grammar, an object of preposition is a noun, pronoun, gerund, or a group of words that act as noun that comes after the preposition. In other words, an object of a preposition is a noun or pronoun that is governed by a preposition.
Example:
- He is staring at me.
In the above sentence,” me” is the Object of the preposition, “at”. There can be more than one object of preposition in one sentence.
Example:
There are some chocolates on the table, for you.
In the above sentence there are two Objects of preposition. The first is “table” and it is the Object of the preposition, “on”. The second is the pronoun, “you” and it is the Object of the preposition, ”for”.