In today's lesson, I'm going to show you how to find the direct and indirect object in a sentence.
We're going to start with level A2 with examples like: I sent my Mom a Mother's Day card.
All the way up to C1 with examples like: Swimming laps in the pool gives her a sense
of accomplishment that she hasn't found in any other form of exercise. At the end of each section
I have a mini test for you, so you can practice what you learned. My name is Arnel, let's start.
I have my subject, verb, plus hmm... The subject does the action.
The verb is the action. And you can see, I'm using different tenses. Present continuous,
past simple, present perfect, and future simple. You do not need to be an expert
on the tenses for this lesson. I just want to give you examples with a variety of tenses.
But, I'm missing something. I made? What what did you make? I'm missing a direct object. I made a sandwich.
What. What are you reading? We are reading a book. What did Jim build? He built a shelf.
What has Heather bought? She has bought curtains.
For this last one here, hmm... Amy will meet person. Can I use what for a person? What will Amy meet?
I'm speaking about a person. I'm speaking about an object. I need whom, whom will Amy meet?
I want to give you a mini explanation on whom, because it's important for this lesson.
Who asks about a subject. Who will meet Toby? Amy, Amy will meet Toby.
Whom asks about the object. Whom will Amy meet? Amy will meet Toby.
But, the word whom is slowly disappearing from the English language.
So you might hear native speakers using who instead of whom. But for this lesson I'm just gonna
use whom, because it's probably what you'll see in your grammar books and in your English lessons.
Direct objects. Answer the question what or whom the verb affects. Affect means has an impact.
And they're called direct objects because they directly receive the verb. We can of course use a
pronoun, a pronoun can also be your direct object. I made it. We can make the subject and the direct
object more interesting. Rick and his children are reading comic books. So it doesn't really
matter how you change the subject or the direct object, it's still the direct object of the verb.
If you want you can pause this lesson and think of your own direct object for each of these examples.
Okay, when we say: I made a sandwich. It's clear I made the sandwich, I am
hungry, and I ate the sandwich. But what happens if the sandwich is not for me?
I made my grandpa a sandwich. We are reading the children a book.
Jim built his wife a shelf. Heather bought Cynthia curtains.
This last example is a little bit different, so I'm going to come back to that one later.
My grandpa, the children, his wife, Cynthia. These are indirect objects.
Direct objects receive the verb, indirect objects receive the direct object. What? Really? We have
the indirect object before the direct object? Even though the direct object receives a verb?
Yeah, the structure might seem a little bit strange, but this is very natural and correct.
It's important to remember you cannot have an indirect object without a direct object.
If there is no direct object there is no indirect object. Remember, no DO no
IO. If you feel confused about direct and indirect objects you can do a mini test.
If you remove the indirect object, the sentence still makes sense. Let's look at a couple of
examples: Jim built his wife a shelf. We can remove the indirect object and it makes perfect sense. Jim
built a shelf. If we remove the direct object, Jim built his wife? Really? Did he really build his wife?
That's possible, but that's obviously not what we're talking about. We are reading
the children a book. We can remove that indirect object and it makes sense, we are reading a book.
If we remove the direct object: We are reading the children? Are the children a story? Are you reading
the children? No. That's not what we mean. Let's go back to this example sentence from earlier: Amy
will meet Toby. Why, why didn't I add an indirect object here? Not all verbs take an indirect object.
We meet someone, an indirect object is not a possibility. But to help you out, I
want to give you a list of super common verbs that often, not always, often take two objects.
I have my verbs. I'm gonna choose the indirect object, me, and I'll give you one example.
If you want, pause the video, and think of your own example sentences.
Okay, first mini test. I have my sentences here. Can you please find the verb,
the direct object, and the indirect object? Pause the video to do this.
Okay, here are the answers. I've highlighted the parts for you. Let me know in the comments how
you did. I always love hearing from you. And you can also give me a few of your example sentences.
Let's move on to B1. Okay, here are the sentences we looked at in the A2 level.
You can see the indirect object comes before the direct object.
But the indirect object can also go after the direct object.
And you can see at number seven I put a little asterisk.
Ignore number seven for now, we'll come back to that one later.
For these sentences here, I'm missing something. If you move your indirect
object to the end of the sentence you need a preposition. Everyone's favorite thing.
For each space can you choose the preposition, to or for? Pause the video to do this.
Here are the answers. How did you do? You might be thinking: Is there a rule for
this? When to choose for? When to choose to? No, there isn't a rule.
As you know with prepositions, there can be guidelines, but there really isn't a rule
in this case. So when you're learning prepositions it's good to learn them with the verb together.
For number seven, why? Why didn't I move that indirect object? Because the verb ask. The verb ask is always followed by its indirect object, if there is one. I asked her a question. You
can ask me anything. So it would not be correct to say: A policeman was asking questions to me.
The indirect object is normally a person, but it doesn't have to be a person.
The mechanic gave the car new tires. The car is my indirect object, and it's a thing.
In this lesson, I've used transitive verbs for all of my examples. You can see them there.
Transitive verbs? What are transitive verbs? Transitive verbs need an object.
I cannot say: I make. What, what do you make? Silly me, I make pancakes every Sunday.
What's the opposite of a transitive verb?
Intransitive verbs. Intransitive verbs like the ones you see here do not need an object. You can
make a complete sentence just by using a subject and an intransitive verb. I laughed, she cried,
he slept. Yes, some verbs can be transitive and intransitive like the verb, read.
How do you know if a verb is transitive or intransitive? One, as you improve your English
you'll get a natural feeling for when you need an object or not. Two, a good dictionary will tell you.
Look, I just chose Cambridge Dictionary. There is a T here, this means transitive.
Borrow needs an object. If we look at the verb laugh, we can see an I because it's intransitive.
And if I choose eat, you can see it can be both - transitive and intransitive.
So why am I spending so much time telling you about transitive and intransitive verbs?
Because I don't want you to be confused. If you see a sentence like this:
I worked all day with my brother and then ran for a couple of miles in the park.
This is kind of a long sentence. But because work, and run, are intransitive. There are no direct
or indirect objects in the sentence. So if you're trying to identify objects, maybe they're not there.
Okay, I am back. Let's do test number two. I have seven examples here. Three sentences have a direct
object and an indirect object. Three sentences have a direct object and just a direct object. And one
sentence doesn't have any objects. Can you match the sentences to the categories? Pause the video.
Here are the answers, how did you do? Let me know in the comments. Let's keep going.
Now you know only transitive verbs have a direct object. Which means we can only use transitive
verbs in the passive voice. Let's try to identify direct and indirect objects in the passive voice.
Mini reminder, we form the passive voice: be plus past participle. That's a verb number three. In this
lesson I'm not going to go into the details of the passive voice. But if you want more information on
that topic, I have a video on my YouTube channel, and I'll leave the link down below for you.
Let's start with an active sentence. Two thieves stole a diamond from a museum.
What, what was stolen? A diamond. So I know that's my direct object.
Hmm, I think that's more important. I want to make that my subject. A diamond was stolen from a museum.
You can see my direct object has become my subject. But it
is still the direct object of the verb, steal.
And what happened to the two thieves, did we forget about them?
I could add by, buy the two thieves, that becomes the agent. But in the passive voice many times
that isn't even necessary. Let's do another example, again starting with the active voice.
Wendy gave me a recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies. Recipe.
Okay, again, I want to make the direct object my subject, because I think that's more important. A
recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies was given to me. What if I want to make the indirect object
the subject of my sentence, because I think that's more important? I, I was given a recipe for oatmeal
raisin cookies. By Wendy, is optional. So with a passive voice finding the direct and indirect
object is a little bit different. But whatever you want to emphasize becomes the subject.
In this first example can you make the direct object the subject in the passive voice? In the
second sentence can you please make the indirect object the subject? Pause the video to do this.
Here are your answers. You can see there's a little bit of a variety possible.
Let's take a look at a little clip.
Okay, the sentence I'm interested in is the second sentence. Probably one of
the most famous lines in movie history: I? Your father? They're the same thing, right?
You are a student. You, a student, they're the same thing.
She became a doctor. She, a doctor, they're the same person.
What do we call verbs that connect two things that are the same? We call them linking verbs.
A link is something that connects two things, a chain has many
links. Why am I telling you about linking verbs? Because just like intransitive verbs, linking
verbs do not take objects. Here is a list of common linking verbs. Remember, be has many forms. I also
have sense verbs. You know this. We could hear sound with our ears, look with our eyes, taste with our
mouths, feel with our skin and emotions, and smell with our noses. And there are other verbs here.
Linking verbs are followed by nouns or adjectives. She became my best friend. My best friend is a noun.
You look beautiful. Beautiful is an adjective. He went crazy when he heard the news.
Here, first we have our linking verb with its adjective. Crazy describing the subject,
and later in the sentence we have a verb and it's direct object. So yes, there can be many types of
verbs in a sentence. My best friend, beautiful, crazy, these are what we call subject compliments.
These are not direct objects even though they follow a verb directly.
And once again, a good dictionary will tell you what the verb type is.
I'm going to choose Longman. Remain you can see is intransitive and linking.
B2 test. I think you're starting to get an idea of what I want you to do in these little tests. Can
you match each sentence to its category? And for the passive voice, don't try to find the object in
the passive voice. I just want you to identify the passive voice. Pause the video to do this.
Here are the answers. How did you do? And more importantly, how are you feeling? I
know there's been a lot of information, we just have one more section to go. Let's move on to C1.
Ugh... I am sure you are sick of direct and indirect objects by now. Let's keep going! And you
can see we've kind of come full circle. You might recognize this layout from earlier in the lesson.
I'm missing my direct objects. What, what did you finish? I finished my essay. Your direct object
can be a noun. What have you always liked? I have always liked swimming in the lake near my house.
Your direct object can be a gerund. What, what do you need? I need to go home before my parents start
to worry about me. Your infinitive can also be an object. What, what can I buy? You can buy whatever
dress you like for the party. Your direct object can also be a clause. In this case a noun clause.
In the last example I'm looking for the indirect object. Whom does your boss tell his life story to?
My boss tells whomever will listen his life story. So it doesn't matter how complex a
sentence looks, with a bit of detective work you can find the direct and indirect
objects. Last test. For our C1 test let's use real life clips. Clip number one, take a look...
Once he gives his hamstrings a break, they'll retract back to their previous state.
What's the verb? What's the direct object? And, what's the indirect object?
Let's move on to clip number two: Take for example this tip from the MIT
admissions blog. Where the author Compares two different introductions for a potential essay.
Can you find two verbs and two direct objects? Pause the video.
Here are the answers. Clip number three: What can you see? I'm the father, it's my job.
In clip number three we're using linking verbs, so there are no objects. You can just see subject
complements. For clip number four what can you find? I've always secretly wanted to be a machine.
We have our verb always wanted in the present perfect. Our direct object is an infinitive.
Last clip, clip number five. Take a look. Wanna dance?
I do believe Marcellus my husband, your boss, told you to take me out and do whatever I wanted. Now I
want to dance, I want to win, I want that trophy. So dance good. All right... Okay, in my opinion this one
is the most complex. So to give you the answer I'm actually gonna read my notes, to do that. So
I'm gonna use picture Arnel to take my place to help me as I read you the answers. First things
first. At the very end, technically, good should be, well. But that's a different grammar point.
Do, here's acting as an auxiliary verb, we don't need to look at it. Believe is our transitive verb. What
does she believe? This whole part is the direct object. This whole situation is a direct object.
Within this part, there are other verbs and objects. Okay, you is the indirect object of told.
To take me out is the direct object of told. Me is the direct object of, take. Whatever I
wanted is a direct object of do. Want, want to dance, to win, that trophy. Are direct objects.
I'm back again. I hope this lesson helped you get a better feeling
for direct and indirect objects. Don't forget to leave me a couple of your
test scores down below, and give me a few example sentences. I'll see you next time!