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Traditional grammar defines the object in a sentence as the entity that is acted upon by the subject.^[1] There is thus a primary distinction between subjects and objects that is understood in terms of the action expressed by the verb, e.g. Tom studies grammar - Tom is the subject and grammar is the object. Traditional theories of sentence structure divide the simple sentence into a subject and a predicate,^[2] whereby the object is taken to be part of the predicate.^[3] Many modern theories of grammar, in contrast, take the object to be a verb argument like the subject, the difference between them being mainly just their prominence; the subject is ranked higher than the object and is thus more prominent.^[4]

The main verb in a clause determines if and what objects are present. Transitive verbs require the presence of an object, whereas intransitive verbs block the appearance of an object.^[5] The term complement overlaps in meaning with object, although the two are not synonymous. The objects that verbs do and do not take is explored in detail in valency theory.

Types of objects

Various object types are commonly acknowledged: direct, indirect, and prepositional. These object types are illustrated in the following table:

Type	Description	Example
Direct object	Entity acted upon	Sam fed the dogs.
Indirect object	Entity indirectly affected by the action	She sent him a present.
Prepositional object	Object introduced by a preposition	She is waiting for Tom.

The descriptions "entity acted upon" and "entity indirectly affected by the action" are merely loose orientation points. Beyond basic examples like those provided in the table, these orientation points are not much help when the goal is to determine whether a given object should be viewed as direct or indirect.^[6] One rule of thumb for English, however, is that an indirect object is not present unless a direct object is also present. The term prepositional object is of course much clearer, since the presence of a preposition reliably identifies such objects. Despite the difficulties with the traditional nomenclature, the terms direct object and indirect object are widespread.

The term oblique object is also employed at times, although what exactly is meant varies from author to author. Some authors understand oblique object to be an umbrella term denoting all objects (direct, indirect, and prepositional), whereas other authors use the term to denote just a prepositional object.^[7]

Syntactic category

While the typical object is a pronoun, noun, or noun phrase, objects can also appear as other syntactic categories, as illustrated in the following table:

Category	Example
Noun (phrase) or pronoun	The girl ate fruit.
that-clause	We remembered that we had to bring something.
Bare clause	We remembered we had to bring something.
for-clause	We were waiting for him to explain.
Interrogative clause	They asked what had happened.
Free relative clause	I heard what you heard.
Gerund (phrase or clause)	He stopped asking questions.
to-infinitive	Sam attempted to leave.
Cataphoric it	I believe it that she said that.

Identifying objects

A number of criteria can be employed for identifying objects, e.g.^[8]

1. Subject of passive sentence: Most objects in active sentences can become the subject in the corresponding passive sentences.^[9]

2. Position occupied: In languages with strict word order, the subject and the object tend to occupy set positions in unmarked declarative clauses. The object follows the subject.

3. Morphological case: In languages that have case systems, objects are marked by certain cases (accusative, dative, genitive, instrumental, etc.).

Languages vary significantly with respect to these criteria. The first criterion identifies objects reliably most of the time in English, e.g.

Fred gave me a book.

a. A book was given (to) me. - Passive sentence identifies a book as an object in the starting sentence.

b. I was given a book. - Passive sentence identifies me as an object in the starting sentence.

The second criterion is also a reliable criterion for isolating languages such as English, since the relatively strict word order of English usually positions the object after the verb(s) in declarative sentences. The third criterion is less applicable to English, though, since English lacks morphological case, exceptions being the personal pronouns (I/me, he/him, she/her, they/them). For languages that have case and thus freer word order, morphological case is the the most readily available criterion for identifying objects. In Latin and related languages, direct objects are usually marked with the accusative case, and indirect objects with the dative case. Note as well that some objects are marked in telling ways in particular languages. In Spanish, for example, human objects have to be marked by the preposition a; the phenomenon is called differential object marking.

Verb classes

Verbs can be classified according to the number and/or type of objects that they do or do not take. The following table provides an overview of some of the various verb classes:^[10]

Transitive verbs	Number of objects	Examples
Monotransitive	One object	I fed the dog.
Ditransitive	Two objects	You loaned me a lawnmower.
Tritransitive	Three objects	They sold me bananas for two dollars.
Intransitive verbs	Semantic role of subject	Examples
Unaccusative	Patient	The man stumbled twice, The roof collapsed.
Unergative	Agent	He works in the morning, They lie a lot.

Ergative^[11] and object-deletion verbs^[12] can be transitive or intransitive, as indicated in the following table:

Transitive	Example
Ergative	The submarine sank the freighter.
Object deletion	We have already eaten dinner.
Intransitive	Example
Ergative	The freighter sank.
Objection deletion	We have already eaten.

The distinction drawn here between ergative and object-deletion verbs is based on the role of the subject. The object of a transitive ergative verb is the subject of the corresponding intransitive ergative verb. With object-deletion verbs, in contrast, the subject is consistent regardless of whether an object is or is not present.

Objects in sentence structure

Objects are distinguished from subjects in the syntactic trees that represent sentence structure. The subject appears (as high or) higher in the syntactic structure than the object. The following trees of a dependency grammar illustrate the hierarchical positions of subjects and objects:^[13]

The subject is in blue, and the object in orange. The subject is consistently a dependent of the finite verb, whereas the object is a dependent of the lowest non-finite verb if such a verb is present.

Notes

^ For descriptions of the traditional distinction between subject and object, see for instance Freeborn (1995:31) and Kesner Bland (1996:415).
^ The division of the clause into a subject and a predicate is a view of sentence structure that is adopted by most grammars, e.g. Conner (1968:43), Freeborn (1995:121), and Biber et al. (1999:122).
^ Concerning the fact that the object is part of the predicate, see for instance Biber et al. (1999:122).
^ The insight that the the arguments and adjuncts of verbs are ranked is expressed as the Accessibility Hierarchy. See Keenan and Comrie (1977).
^ The distinction between transtive and intransitive verbs is acknowledged by most any grammar. See for instance Collins Cobuild Grammar (1995:139ff.).
^ Concerning the historical distinction between direct and indirect objects, see Conner (1968:108f.).
^ Biber et al. (1999), for instance, use the term oblique object to denote an object that is introduced by a preposition.
^ See Biber et al. (1999:126) for a similar list of characteristics that identify (direct) objects.
^ Concerning the passive as a diagnostic for identifying objects, see for instance Freeborn (1995:175) and Biber et al. (1999:126).
^ For a classification of transitive verbs along the lines used here but using different terminology, see for instance Conner (1968:103ff.).
^ Concerning ergative verbs, see for instance the Collins Cobuild English Grammar (1995:155f.) and Biber et al. (1999:155f.).
^ The term object-deletion verb is adopted from Biber et al. (1999:147). Such verbs are also called ambitransitive.
^ Dependency trees similar to the ones produced here can be found in Ágel et al. (2003/6).

Literature

Ágel, V., L. Eichinger, H.-W. Eroms, P. Hellwig, H. Heringer, and H. Lobin (eds.) 2003/6. Dependency and valency: An international handbook of contemporary research. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Biber, D. et al. 1999. Longman Grammar of spoken and written English. Essex, England: Pearson Education limited.
Collins Cobuild English Grammar 1995. London: HarperCollins Publishers.
Conner, J. 1968. A grammar of standard English. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Freeborn, D. 1995. A course book in English grammar: Standard English and the dialects, 2nd edition. London: McMillian Press LTD.
Keenan, E. and B. Comrie 1977. Noun phrase accessibility and universal grammar. Linguistic Inquiry 8. 63-99.
Kesner Bland, S. Intermediate grammar: From form to meaning and use. New York: Oxford University Press.

External links

Direct Objects at chompchomp.com

[1] For descriptions of the traditional distinction between subject and object, see for instance Freeborn (1995:31) and Kesner Bland (1996:415).

[2] The division of the clause into a subject and a predicate is a view of sentence structure that is adopted by most grammars, e.g. Conner (1968:43), Freeborn (1995:121), and Biber et al. (1999:122).

[3] Concerning the fact that the object is part of the predicate, see for instance Biber et al. (1999:122).

[4] The insight that the the arguments and adjuncts of verbs are ranked is expressed as the Accessibility Hierarchy. See Keenan and Comrie (1977).

[5] The distinction between transtive and intransitive verbs is acknowledged by most any grammar. See for instance Collins Cobuild Grammar (1995:139ff.).

[6] Concerning the historical distinction between direct and indirect objects, see Conner (1968:108f.).

[7] Biber et al. (1999), for instance, use the term oblique object to denote an object that is introduced by a preposition.

[8] See Biber et al. (1999:126) for a similar list of characteristics that identify (direct) objects.

[9] Concerning the passive as a diagnostic for identifying objects, see for instance Freeborn (1995:175) and Biber et al. (1999:126).

[10] For a classification of transitive verbs along the lines used here but using different terminology, see for instance Conner (1968:103ff.).

[11] Concerning ergative verbs, see for instance the Collins Cobuild English Grammar (1995:155f.) and Biber et al. (1999:155f.).

[12] The term object-deletion verb is adopted from Biber et al. (1999:147). Such verbs are also called ambitransitive.

[13] Dependency trees similar to the ones produced here can be found in Ágel et al. (2003/6).

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{linguistics}}
+Traditional [[grammar]] defines the object in a sentence as the entity that is acted upon by the subject.<ref>For descriptions of the traditional distinction between subject and object, see for instance Freeborn (1995:31) and Kesner Bland (1996:415).</ref> There is thus a primary distinction between subjects and objects that is understood in terms of the action expressed by the verb, e.g. ''Tom studies grammar'' - ''Tom'' is the subject and ''grammar'' is the object. Traditional theories of sentence structure divide the simple sentence into a [[subject (grammar)|subject]] and a [[Predicate (grammar)|predicate]],<ref>The division of the clause into a subject and a predicate is a view of sentence structure that is adopted by most grammars, e.g. Conner (1968:43), Freeborn (1995:121), and Biber et al. (1999:122).</ref> whereby the object is taken to be part of the predicate.<ref>Concerning the fact that the object is part of the predicate, see for instance Biber et al. (1999:122).</ref> Many modern theories of grammar, in contrast, take the object to be a verb [[Argument (linguistics)|argument]] like the subject, the difference between them being mainly just their prominence; the subject is ranked higher than the object and is thus more prominent.<ref>The insight that the the arguments and adjuncts of verbs are ranked is expressed as the Accessibility Hierarchy. See Keenan and Comrie (1977).</ref>
-An '''object''' in [[grammar]] is part of a [[Sentence (linguistics)|sentence]], and often part of the [[Predicate (grammar)|predicate]]. On the grammatical level, it functions as a verbal complement necessary for the verb to function as a [[Verb Phrase|verb phrase]] (VP). On the semantic level, it typically denotes somebody or something involved in the subject's "performance" of the [[verb]]. Basically, it represents what or whom the subject is acting upon. As an example, the following sentence is given:
+The main verb in a clause determines if and what objects are present. [[Transitive verb]]s require the presence of an object, whereas [[intransitive verb]]s block the appearance of an object.<ref>The distinction between transtive and intransitive verbs is acknowledged by most any grammar. See for instance Collins Cobuild Grammar (1995:139ff.).</ref> The term ''[[Complement (linguistics)|complement]]'' overlaps in meaning with ''object'', although the two are not synonymous. The objects that verbs do and do not take is explored in detail in [[Valency (linguistics)|valency]] theory.
-In the sentence "''Bobby scored '''a goal'''''", "a goal" is the object.
+==Types of objects==
-"Scored a goal" is the VP. "Bobby" is the [[Subject (grammar)|subject]] (the agent, doer, or performer of the action), "score" is the action, and "goal" is the object (what or whom the action of the verb is acting upon).
+Various object types are commonly acknowledged: ''direct'', ''indirect'', and ''prepositional''. These object types are illustrated in the following table:
-The verb in the clause determines whether there can or must be objects in the sentence, and if so how many and of what type. (''See also'' [[Valency (linguistics)]].) In many languages, including [[English language|English]], the same verb can allow different structures: "Bobby scored" and "Bobby scored a goal" are both valid English sentences. Note that the meaning of the verb can be affected by the presence or absence of an object.
+:::::{| class="wikitable"
-== Types of object ==
+|-
-Objects fall into classes: direct objects, [[adposition|adpositional]] objects, and non-prepositional indirect objects. A direct object is the first complement of a transitive verb, and typically answers the question "What?". An indirect object is the complement of an intransitive verb, and typically answers the question "To whom?" or "For whom?". An indirect object can reflect the recipient of the direct object, or an otherwise affected participant in the event. In English there must be a direct object or a verbal (prepositional) particle for an indirect object to be placed in a sentence. Some examples:
+! Type !!  Description !! Example
-*In "The girl ate fruit", ''fruit'' is a '''direct object''' of the verb ''ate''. It corresponds to the [[accusative case|accusative]] of languages with [[grammatical case]]s.
+|-
-*In "They sent him a postcard", ''him'' is a (non-prepositional) '''indirect object''' of the verb ''sent'' (which uses a double-object construction). It typically corresponds to the [[dative case]].
+| Direct object || Entity acted upon || Sam fed '''the dogs'''.
-*In "I envied him his success", ''his success'' is an '''oblique object''' of the verb ''envied'' (it could be expressed ''for his success'' instead).
+|-
-*In "We listened to the radio", ''radio'' is the object of the [[simple past]] compound or [[phrasal verb]] ''listen to''. It can correspond to a variety of cases and [[complement (linguistics)|complements]].
+| Indirect object || Entity indirectly affected by the action || She sent '''him''' a present.
+|-
+| Prepositional object || Object introduced by a preposition || She is waiting for '''Tom'''.
+|}
+The descriptions "entity acted upon" and "entity indirectly affected by the action" are merely loose orientation points. Beyond basic examples like those provided in the table, these orientation points are not much help when the goal is to determine whether a given object should be viewed as direct or indirect.<ref>Concerning the historical distinction between direct and indirect objects, see Conner (1968:108f.).</ref> One rule of thumb for English, however, is that an indirect object is not present unless a direct object is also present. The term ''prepositional object'' is of course much clearer, since the presence of a preposition reliably identifies such objects. Despite the difficulties with the traditional nomenclature, the terms ''direct object'' and ''indirect object'' are widespread.
-In many languages, including [[German language|German]], [[Latin]], and [[Classical Arabic]], objects can change form slightly (''[[declension|decline]]'') to indicate what kind of object they are (their ''[[grammatical case|case]]'').  This does not happen in English (except for a few pronouns that do have separate [[subject (grammar)|subject]] and object forms, such as ''he'' versus ''him''); rather, the type of object is indicated strictly by [[word order]].  Also, some objects are treated differently from others in particular languages.  In Spanish, for example, human objects have to get a preposition 'a'.  This is called [[differential object marking]].
+The term ''oblique object'' is also employed at times, although what exactly is meant varies from author to author. Some authors understand ''oblique object'' to be an umbrella term denoting all objects (direct, indirect, and prepositional), whereas other authors use the term to denote just a prepositional object.<ref>Biber et al. (1999), for instance, use the term ''oblique object'' to denote an object that is introduced by a preposition.</ref>
-== Forms of object ==
-An object may take any of a number of forms, all of them [[nominal (linguistics)|nominal]] in some sense. Common forms include:
-*A [[noun]] or noun phrase, as in "I remembered ''her advice''."
-*An [[infinitive]] or infinitival clause, as in "I remembered ''to eat''."
-*A [[gerund]] or gerund phrase, as in "I remembered ''being there''."
-*A declarative [[content clause]], as in "I remembered ''that he was blond''."
-*An interrogative content clause, as in "I remembered ''why she had left''."
-*A fused [[relative clause]], as in "I remembered ''what she wanted me to do''."
+==Syntactic category==
-== The object in linguistics ==
+While the typical object is a pronoun, noun, or noun phrase, objects can also appear as other [[syntactic category|syntactic categories]], as illustrated in the following table:
-In [[inflected language]]s, objects may be marked using [[morphology (linguistics)|morphological]] [[grammatical case|case]]. In many languages, the patient of a [[ditransitive verb]] is marked in the same way as the single object of a monotransitive verb, and is called the '''direct object'''. The recipient has its own marking, and is called the '''indirect object'''. In [[Latin language|Latin]] and many other languages, the direct object is marked by the [[accusative case]], while the indirect object is typically marked by the [[dative case]].
+:::::{| class="wikitable"
-In more [[isolating language]]s such as [[English language|English]], objects are marked by their position in the sentence or using [[adposition]]s (like ''to'' in ''I gave a book to him''). Modern English preserves a case distinction for pronouns, but it has conflated the accusative and dative into a single [[oblique case]], the [[object pronoun]]s ''him, her, me'', etc., which may function either as direct or indirect objects.
+|-
+! Category !!  Example
+|-
+| Noun (phrase) or pronoun || The girl ate '''fruit'''.
+|-
+| ''that''-clause || We remembered '''that we had to bring something'''.
+|-
+| Bare clause || We remembered '''we had to bring something'''.
+|-
+| ''for''-clause || We were waiting '''for him to explain'''.
+|-
+| Interrogative clause || They asked '''what had happened'''.
+|-
+| Free relative clause || I heard '''what you heard'''.
+|-
+| Gerund (phrase or clause) || He stopped '''asking questions'''.
+|-
+| ''to''-infinitive || Sam attempted '''to leave'''.
+|-
+| [[Cataphor]]ic ''it'' || I believe '''it''' that she said that.
+|}
+==Identifying objects==
-In some languages, the recipient of a ditransitive verb is marked in the same way as the single object of a monotransitive verb, and is called the '''primary object'''. The patient of ditransitive verbs has its own marking, and is called the '''secondary object'''. Such languages are called [[dechticaetiative language]]s, and are mostly found among [[African language]]s.
+A number of criteria can be employed for identifying objects, e.g.<ref>See Biber et al. (1999:126) for a similar list of characteristics that identify (direct) objects.</ref>
+::1. <u>Subject of passive sentence</u>: Most objects in active sentences can become the subject in the corresponding passive sentences.<ref>Concerning the passive as a diagnostic for identifying objects, see for instance Freeborn (1995:175) and Biber et al. (1999:126).</ref>
-An object can be turned into a [[syntax|syntactic]] [[subject (grammar)|subject]] using [[passive voice]], if the language in question has such a construction. In dative languages, the direct object is promoted, while in dechticaetiative languages the primary object is promoted. [[English language|English]] shares this property with dechticaetiative languages, since non-prepositional indirect objects can be promoted:
-:Direct object: His colleagues sent him '''a postcard'''.
-:'''A postcard''' was sent to him (by his colleagues).
-:Indirect object: His colleagues sent '''him''' ''a postcard''.
-:'''He''' was sent ''a postcard'' (by his colleagues).
-In the immense majority of languages, where there is a preferred word order in the sentence, the object is placed somewhere after the subject. [[Analytic language]]s additionally tend to place the object after the verb, so that it remains separate from the subject.
+::2. <u>Position occupied</u>: In languages with strict word order, the subject and the object tend to occupy set positions in unmarked declarative clauses. The object follows the subject.
+::3. <u>Morphological case</u>: In languages that have case systems, objects are marked by certain cases (accusative, dative, genitive, instrumental, etc.).
+Languages vary significantly with respect to these criteria. The first criterion identifies objects reliably most of the time in English, e.g.
+::Fred gave me a book.
+::a. A book was given (to) me. <small>- Passive sentence identifies ''a book'' as an object in the starting sentence.</small>
+::b. I was given a book. <small>- Passive sentence identifies ''me'' as an object in the starting sentence.</small>
+The second criterion is also a reliable criterion for [[isolating language]]s such as English, since the relatively strict word order of English usually positions the object after the verb(s) in declarative sentences. The third criterion is less applicable to English, though, since English lacks morphological case, exceptions being the personal pronouns (''I/me'', ''he/him'', ''she/her'', ''they/them''). For languages that have case and thus freer word order, morphological case is the the most readily available criterion for identifying objects. In Latin and related languages, direct objects are usually marked with the accusative case, and indirect objects with the dative case. Note as well that some objects are marked in telling ways in particular languages. In Spanish, for example, human objects have to be marked by the preposition ''a''; the phenomenon is called [[differential object marking]].
+==Verb classes==
+Verbs can be classified according to the number and/or type of objects that they do or do not take. The following table provides an overview of some of the various verb classes:<ref>For a classification of transitive verbs along the lines used here but using different terminology, see for instance Conner (1968:103ff.).</ref>
+:::::{| class="wikitable"
+|-
+! Transitive verbs !!  Number of objects !! Examples
+|-
+| Monotransitive || One object || I '''fed''' the dog.
+|-
+| Ditransitive || Two objects || You '''loaned''' me a lawnmower.
+|-
+| Tritransitive || Three objects || They '''sold''' me bananas for two dollars.
+|-
+! Intransitive verbs !!  Semantic role of subject !! Examples
+|-
+| [[Unaccusative verb|Unaccusative]] || Patient || The man '''stumbled''' twice, The roof '''collapsed'''.
+|-
+| [[Unergative verb|Unergative]] || Agent || He '''works''' in the morning, They '''lie''' a lot.
+|}
+[[Ergative verb|Ergative]]<ref>Concerning ergative verbs, see for instance the Collins Cobuild English Grammar (1995:155f.) and Biber et al. (1999:155f.).</ref> and object-deletion verbs<ref>The term ''object-deletion verb'' is adopted from Biber et al. (1999:147). Such verbs are also called ''ambitransitive''.</ref> can be transitive or intransitive, as indicated in the following table:
+::::::::::{| class="wikitable"
+|-
+! Transitive !! Example
+|-
+| Ergative || The submarine '''sank''' the freighter.
+|-
+| Object deletion || We have already '''eaten''' dinner.
+|-
+! Intransitive !! Example
+|-
+| Ergative || The freighter '''sank'''.
+|-
+| Objection deletion || We have already '''eaten'''.
+|}
+The distinction drawn here between ergative and object-deletion verbs is based on the role of the subject. The object of a transitive ergative verb is the subject of the corresponding intransitive ergative verb. With object-deletion verbs, in contrast, the subject is consistent regardless of whether an object is or is not present.
+==Objects in sentence structure==
+Objects are distinguished from subjects in the syntactic trees that represent sentence structure. The subject appears (as high or) higher in the syntactic structure than the object. The following trees of a [[dependency grammar]] illustrate the hierarchical positions of subjects and objects:<ref>Dependency trees similar to the ones produced here can be found in Ágel et al. (2003/6).</ref>
+::[[File:Objects 1.png|Objects 1]]
+The subject is in blue, and the object in orange. The subject is consistently a dependent of the [[finite verb]], whereas the object is a dependent of the lowest [[non-finite verb]] if such a verb is present.
 ==See also==
-{{Wiktionary|object}}
+{{div col|cols=3}}
-* [[Object pronoun]]
+*[[Dependency grammar]]
-* [[Oblique case]]
+*[[Intransitive verb]]
-* [[Prepositional pronoun]]
+*[[Object pronoun]]
+*[[Oblique case]]
+*[[Predicate (grammar)]]
+*[[Prepositional pronoun]]
+*[[Subject (grammar)]]
+*[[Transitive verb]]
+{{div col end}}
+==Notes==
+{{reflist|2}}
+==Literature==
+{{div col|cols=2}}
+*Ágel, V., L. Eichinger, H.-W. Eroms, P. Hellwig, H. Heringer, and H. Lobin (eds.) 2003/6. Dependency and valency: An international handbook of contemporary research. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
+*Biber, D. et al. 1999. Longman Grammar of spoken and written English. Essex, England: Pearson Education limited.
+*Collins Cobuild English Grammar 1995. London: HarperCollins Publishers.
+*Conner, J. 1968. A grammar of standard English. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
+*Freeborn, D. 1995. A course book in English grammar: Standard English and the dialects, 2nd edition. London: McMillian Press LTD.
+*Keenan, E. and B. Comrie 1977. Noun phrase accessibility and universal grammar. Linguistic Inquiry 8. 63-99.
+*Kesner Bland, S. Intermediate grammar: From form to meaning and use. New York: Oxford University Press.
+{{div col end}}
+==External links==
+*[http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/directobject.htm Direct Objects] at [http://www.chompchomp.com chompchomp.com]
 {{DEFAULTSORT:Object (grammar)}}