Back to Basics: Direct Objects versus Indirect Objects

Today’s Back to Basics lesson is on a topic I remember having a horrible time keeping straight in elementary school, even though it is really simple when explained well: direct versus indirect objects.

Let’s start by defining what an object is in a grammatical sense. We’ve already spoken about how sentences have a subject (noun) and a verb. When the subject of the sentence performs the action on or toward something or someone, the person or thing acted upon is the sentence’s object.

What does that mean?
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Okay, that can be a bit of a twisty explanation. Let’s look at some examples to clear it up.

He jumped over the creek.

She pets her cat.

Alan and Bella baked a pie for their mother.

The words underlined in the sentences above are all objects. The subjects of the sentences acted on or for them.

What did he jump over? He jumped over the creek. What did she pet? It was her cat she petted. What did Alan and Bella bake? They baked a pie. For whom was the pie baked? They baked it for their mother.

Direct versus Indirect
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The easiest way to determine whether an object is direct or indirect is to figure out what question it answers. A direct object will answer who or what. An indirect object answers to or for whom or what.

My problem as a kid was missing those two “extra” little words in the explanation for indirect objects and instead becoming focused on where in a sentence I had seen them show up most often. Don’t make that mistake.

I made a dress for my sister.

Greta sang her doll a song.

He made dinner for all of us.

Can you tell which of the objects in each sentence are the direct object and the indirect object?

What did I make? I made a dress, so dress is the direct object of the first sentence. For whom was the dress made? It was made for my sister, so sister is the indirect object.

Who or what did Greta sing to in the second sentence? She sang to her doll, so doll is the indirect object. What did she sing? She sang a song, which makes song the direct object.

What did he make? He made dinner. Dinner is the direct object. For whom did he make dinner? He made dinner for us, so us is the indirect object.

Can a sentence have an indirect object without a direct object?
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Now this is a point of contention and confusion. Sometimes the direct object is not stated within the sentence but inferred, like inferred you in sentences without a stated subject.

Just look at the middle example above again. “Greta sang her doll a song,” can easily be reworded to, “Greta sang to her doll.” You still have Greta as the subject, sang as the verb, and doll as the indirect object. However, even without it being included in the sentence, you can infer it was a song Greta sang to her doll, making it an implied direct object.

There you go, a basic lesson on direct versus indirect objects. If you have any questions, please ask them in the comments below. I try to answer all comments within 24 hours.

You can also download an elementary version of this lesson here.