The object is a secondary part of the sentence which stands in close relation to a verb, completing, restricting or in any other way modifying its meaning. The object refers to a) a finite verb – the predicate of the sentence or b) to a non-finite part of the verb – the infinitive, gerund or participle in any of their functions in the sentence:
E.g. a) … the car brought his father and mother home. (Galsworthy)
b) He strolled down the new rose garden to meet them. (Galsworthy)
Some adjectives and (rarely) nouns of verbal or adjectival nature (promise, hope, doubt, trust, possibly, certainly, etc.) may also have an object:
Adjectives: E.g. Tom was good to her. (Eliot) He was conscious of having acted very fairly. (Eliot) He was very fond of opera. (Galsworthy)
Nouns: E.g. It was simply his love for Catherine, his only child, that prompted his anxiety in this case. (Gaskell) Beatrice remembered her promise of a wedding present. (Maurier)
The object may be expressed by:
- a noun:
E.g. In a few weeks she had grubbed out the weeds and cleared the neglected paths. (Cronin)
- a pronoun:
E.g. He gazed at her in some surprise. (Cronin)
- a numeral:
E.g. They found the two stretched side by side on their deckchairs. (Mazo de la Roche)
- a substantivized adjective:
E.g. I’ll do my best to make you comfortable. (Gaskell)
- an infinitive:
E.g. He had promised to join her before the summer… (Aldridge)
- a gerund:
E.g. They talked of going somewhere else afterwards. (Dreiser)
- a syntactical word-combination:
E.g. You’ll see a good deal of that child… (Jerome) He watched the two of them… (Galsworthy) They have quite a number of girls of your age here. (Cusack)
- a complex object:
E.g. He watched her ring the bell. (Galsworthy)
KINDS OF OBJECTS
The Direct Object
A noun in the common case or a pronoun in the objective case that completes the meaning of a transitive verb is called the direct object. The direct object is a direct receiver or product of the action denoted by the transitive verb.
A verb which is transitive in English and requires a direct object does not always correspond to a transitive verb in Russian:
E.g. I help her. (direct object) – Я помогаю ей (indirect object, dative case)
The direct object immediately follows the transitive verb which governs it (*if there is no indirect object):
E.g. The clerk came in and shut the door after him. (Dickens)
The direct object is sometimes separated from the transitive verb by a prepositional object or adverbial modifier. (This is often the case when the group of the object is rather lengthy):
E.g. She held in one hand a threaded needle.
Such adverbs as about, back, down, in, off, on, out, over, through, up, etc. when used as the second element of a phraseological unit (verb + adverb) are usually placed before the direct object when the latter is a noun or one of the longer pronouns, such as each other, one another, something, somebody, etc. Personal pronouns always precede the adverb.
E.g. Fleur flung back her hair. (Galsworthy) He put the receiver down. (Cusack) The noise woke him up.
The direct object precedes the verb which governs it:
- in exclamatory sentences:
E.g. What delightful weather we are having! (Wilde)
- in special questions which refer to the direct object:
E.g. What can I do for you? ) (Galsworthy)
- when the object stands as a link connecting a sentence with a previous sentence:
E.g. There was another state farm in the district. That state farm we decided to visit on the following day.
- for the sake of emphasis:
E.g. Honey she had in plenty out of her own hives, but treacle was what her soul desired. (Hardy)
Verbs with two direct objects. The following verbs take two direct objects: to ask, to answer, to take, to envy, to hear, to forgive: E.g. I asked James a few questions. (= I asked a few questions. I asked James).
The Indirect Object
Some transitive verbs may take two objects: a direct object and an indirect object. The indirect object usually denotes the person towards whom the action of the finite verb is directed.
|
direct object |
indirect object |
|
They sent a telegram. Dick sold his bicycle. The postman brought the letter. |
They sent us a telegram. Dick sold John his bicycle. The postman brought them the letter. |
If the indirect object is a noun, it is in the common case; if it is a pronoun, it is in the objective case. The indirect object corresponds in Russian to an object in the dative:
E.g. He gave me a ticket to the theatre. – Он дал мне билет в театр.
The indirect object has the following characteristics:
- it cannot be used without the direct object. This is quite natural because the indirect object is an object of a transitive verb and a transitive verb requires a direct object to complete its meaning:
E.g. I sent him a letter yesterday.
- The indirect object has a fixed place in the sentence – it precedes the direct object:
E.g. John Ford showed me all his latest improvements. (Galsworthy)
- The indirect object follows the direct object if the direct object is the pronoun:
E.g. I can show it (direct object) you (indirect object). (Galsworthy)
NOTE: The prepositional indirect object may also be used here: Give it to me. (Hardy)
There are cases when the indirect object is preceded by the preposition to (the to-phrase); then it is a prepositional indirect object. The prepositional indirect object (the to-phrase) follows the direct object: E.g. He gave all his money to his mother. (Lawrence)
If the indirect object expresses the person for whose benefit the action is performed, the for-phrase is used: E.g. He wants to write a play for me. (Mansfield)
A transitive verb may be used absolutely, i.e. without its direct object; then the to-phrase is used:
E.g. I shall read to you with pleasure. (Cf.: I shall read you a story)
The prepositional indirect object (the to-phrase) is used:
- when emphasis is intended:
E.g. I shall show the book to you, but not to him
- if the direct object is a pronoun and the indirect object a noun:
E.g. She sent him to the dean. (Cusack)
- if both objects are personal pronouns:
E.g. She said you gave them to her. (Dreiser)
- when the indirect object stands at the head of the sentence:
E.g. To whom did you give it? (or colloquial: Whom did you give it to?)
- when the indirect object stands at the head of an attributive clause:
E.g. I have no friends to whom I can tell everything. (Eliot)
- with the following verbs: to announce, to ascribe, to contribute, to attribute, to communicate, to introduce, to submit, to repeat, to dedicate, to disclose, to dictate, to interpret, to point out, to suggest, to open, to explain, to describe:
E.g. He repeated to me all he had told you before.
The Cognate Object
Some intransitive verbs take an object similar in meaning to the verb and of the same root. Such an object is called the cognate object:
E.g. The child smiled the smile and laughed the laugh of contentment in its own language. (Bennett)
Clare slept the sleep of one who has spent a night in a car. (Galsworthy)
She sighed a sigh of ineffable satisfaction. (Brontë)
Sometimes the cognate object is similar to the verb only in meaning: E.g. They fought a good battle. | They went a walk.
The cognate object occupies a place intermediate between an object and an adverbial modifier, expressing rather adverbial than objective relations:
E.g. He laughed a hearty laugh. – He laughed heartily.
He lived a happy life. – He lived happily.
The construction with a cognate object is more emphatic than with an adverbial modifier.
The Prepositional Object
Certain verbs and adjectives govern their object by means of a preposition. Such an object is called a prepositional object. It is not always easy to tell whether a prepositional phrase stands for an object, or an adverbial modifier.
The prepositional phrase is an object when it denotes a certain person or thing connected with the action expressed by the verb.
The prepositional phrase is an adverbial modifier when it serves to indicate the time, place, manner, etc. of an action.
This difference of meaning is shown in the question put to an object, or to an adverbial modifier. Asking of an object, we use a pronoun (who, what, etc.):
E.g. With whom did you go to the concert? – I went with my brother. (an object)
We use an adverb when the question refers to an adverbial modifier:
E.g. How did you manage to lift that heavy box? – I did it with great difficulty. (an adverbial modifier)
Sometimes one and the same prepositional phrase may be interpreted in two ways:
E.g. Behind whom did the girl stand? – She stood behind me. (an object – the speaker is interested in the person behind whom the girl stood) where did the girl stand? – She stood behind me. (an adverbial modifier – the speaker is interested in the place where the girl stood. The answer might have been “She stood here”)
Nouns derived from verbs and adjectives may have corresponding prepositional objects:
E.g. Is there any objection to my seeing her? (Galsworthy)
Not only intransitive but also transitive verbs may have a prepositional object:
E.g. Bring her with you this afternoon, Aaron. (Eliot)
The Complex Object
An object (direct or prepositional) may be expressed by an infinitival, participial or gerundial complex:
E.g. He watched her ring the bell (Galsworthy)
I saw him crossing the street.
I insist on his coming in time.
The Use of The Pronoun IT as an Object
The pronoun it is used to point back to a preceding subordinate clause or to an independent sentence:
E.g. If he gets home by 8 o’clock, I call it good luck. (Leacock)
Peculiar is the use of it as an object with vague meaning after intransitive verbs:
E.g. We can walk it perfectly well.
Some verbs (such as to find, to think, to consider, etc.) may be followed by a complex object with an objective predicative the nominal part of which is expressed by an infinitive or a gerund (often forming a complex). In this construction the introductory pronoun it is used to represent the nominal part which follows the objective predicative:
E.g. I think it impossible to go there today.
