Examples of Indirect Objects

Most American-born people will have heard of direct and indirect objects at some point in their schooling years. And yet, those same English speakers—even those who grew up in the U.S.—may have a hazy understanding of the difference between a direct and indirect object.

Today, we will review the distinction. We’ll explain what an indirect object is and give you some examples to help you understand its grammatical function.

Direct and Indirect Objects in English

Let’s begin with a quick refresher. The direct object in a sentence is something that is being acted on by something else. Consider the following example:

Jim threw the ball.

The verb (or action word) in this example is threw. The thing that was acted upon was the ball, making ball the direct object.

If we added more to the sentence, however, we would have another object that receives the direct object. This receiver becomes the indirect object.

That can sound complicated, but it’s easy to understand when we expand our original sentence:

Jim threw his dog the ball.

In this sentence, Jim is still throwing the ball (he’s not throwing his dog, thank goodness). This means ball is still the direct object, and the receiver of the ball is Jim’s dog. Dog is therefore the indirect object in the sentence.

An Easy Way to Spot Indirect Objects

The easiest way to find the indirect object in a sentence is to work backward. That is, find the verb, then the direct object, and (lastly) the indirect object.

Let’s look at another example sentence:

Jane sent the bank her payment.

Working backward, we can see the verb is sent. That’s the action being performed in this sentence.

With sent established as the verb, we can deduce that payment is the object being acted upon. That is the object that was sent.

And finally, because the payment was sent to the bank, bank is the indirect object.

 

Pop Quiz

Ready to test your knowledge? Find the indirect object in each sentence below.

1. I texted my roommate the shopping list.
2. Jimmy bought the team pizzas after the game.
3. Sandra’s cat brought me a bottle cap.
4. I gave my cousin directions to the cabin.
5. Joseph baked Veronica a cake.

 

Pop Quiz Answers

1. I texted my roommate the shopping list.
2. Jimmy bought the team pizzas after the game.
3. Sandra’s cat brought me a bottle cap.
4. I gave my cousin directions to the cabin.
5. Joseph baked Veronica a cake.

 

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