What is a direct or indirect object?

An object is the part of the sentence that receives an action from the verb. The order of a sentence in standard English is typically subject-verb-object. The subject is what does the action, the verb is the action itself, and the object is what receives the action. (See What is a subject? See What is a verb?)

An object can be a direct recipient or an indirect recipient of the action.

Example of a direct object: He threw the ball.

Notice that the direct object is the thing that is directly being acted upon—the ball. To find a direct object, you can ask yourself the question "what?": What did he throw? The ball. This is the direct object.

In some cases, though, there is another person or thing that receives part of the action in addition to the direct object.

Example of an indirect object: He threw her the ball.

To find an indirect object, you can ask yourself the question "to whom or for whom?": To whom did he throw? Her. This is the indirect object.

Additional Resources:

• See more details on the parts of a sentence on the Writing Center’s website.
• View the Writing Center’s webinar archive and peruse the multiple grammar-related webinars—especially the Mastering the Mechanics of Writing webinar series.
• Check out some self-paced grammar modules for more grammar practice!

Further Questions?

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