An object is one of the five major elements of clause structure. The other four are subject, verb, adjunct and complement.

Objects are typically noun phrases (a noun or pronoun and any dependent words before or after it). Objects normally follow the verb in a clause:

Everyone likes her. She knows everyone.

They didn’t take their mountain bikes with them.

Have you seen the car keys?

Yes I had them earlier.

There are direct objects and indirect objects. A direct object (in bold) is the thing or person that is affected by the action of the verb. An indirect object (underlined) is usually a person (or animal) who receives a direct object:

They gave her a present when she left.

Can you get me some butter?

A direct object shows who or what the action of the verb affects:

That computer hasn’t got a mouse.

Nobody writes letters these days.

Does she play tennis?

An indirect object is usually a person or an animal. The indirect object (underlined) receives or is affected by the direct object (in bold). An indirect object always needs a direct object with it and always comes before the direct object:

She gave the dog its dinner.

Do I owe you some money?

We can often rephrase such sentences with a prepositional phrase using to or for + the recipient. In this case, the direct object usually comes first.

indirect + direct object

direct object + prepositional phrase with to/for

He always gives the class too much homework.

He always gives too much homework to the class.

I never buy her flowers. She’s allergic to them.

I never buy flowers for her. She’s allergic to them.

Here are some verbs that often take an indirect object + direct object or a prepositional phrase with to:

bring

lend

owe

show

tell

give

offer

promise

teach

write

Here are some verbs that often take an indirect object + direct object or a prepositional phrase with for:

buy find get

make order save

Some verbs (often called transitive verbs) need an object to complete their meaning. Some verbs (often called intransitive verbs) do not take an object. Some verbs need both a direct object and an indirect object. Some verbs can take a wh-clause or a that-clause as an object.

Some examples of verbs and objects:

verb + object

We really enjoyed the evening. Thanks.

verb + no object

Paula smiled and left.

verb + two objects

They gave us coffee.

verb + wh-clause

I can’t believe what he told me.

verb + that-clause

I know (that) you’re telling the truth.

Many phrasal verbs (underlined below) take an object:

We won’t give out your email address to other companies.

They’ve put the price of fuel up again.

All prepositional verbs (underlined below) take an object after the preposition:

I don’t listen to the radio much.

It depends on the weather.

We don’t use objects with linking verbs (appear, be, become, look, seem, etc.). We use adjective phrases, noun phrases, adverb phrases or prepositional phrases as subject complements (underlined below), to give more information about the subject:

This is Lucy. She’s my sister-in-law.

I felt really tired.

I was in the garden when you rang.

See also:

Noun phrases

Verbs and objects

Phrasal verbs

Prepositional verbs

Phrasal-prepositional verbs

Linking verbs