Direct Objects

The direct object of a verb is the thing being acted upon (i.e, it indicates the person or thing that receives the action of a verb..

To find the direct object in a sentence, ask the question Who? or What?

"Simon watered the flowers." What did Simon water? The flowers. The flowers are the direct object.

In the sentence, "I made a card for her", the direct object is card and the indirect object is her.

"They bought David a car." Car is the direct object and David is the indirect object.

This is the formula to remember:

subject + verb + what? or who? = direct object

If nothing answers the who or what question, then there is no direct object. For example, The bird flew high. We ask, the bird flew whom or what? Because there is no answer to this question, the sentence has no direct object.

Now find the direct objects in these sentences:

• 1) The kids kicked the ball in the garden.
  
  the garden
  the kids
  the ball
  
  
• 2) She loves baking bread.
  
  she
  baking bread
  loves
  
  
• 3) The police interviewed all the witnesses
  
  all the witnesses
  interviewed
  the police
  
  
• 4) Thomas painted a dog for his art homework.
  
  a dog
  homework
  art
  
  
• 5) I have to practise violin before I go to bed.
  
  I
  bed
  violin
  
  
• 6) My girlfriend bought me a phone for my birthday.
  
  a phone
  my girlfriend
  my birthday
  
  
• 7) We are studying Italian this semester.
  
  we
  Italian
  semester
  
  
• 8) He has told the truth about what happened.
  
  the truth
  what happened
  He