direct object

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Related to direct object: indirect object

direct object

A word or phrase in a sentence referring to the person or thing receiving the action of a transitive verb. For example, in English, in mail the letter and call him, letter and him are direct objects.

direct object

(Grammar) grammar a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase whose referent receives the direct action of a verb. For example, a book is the direct object in the sentence They bought Anne a book. Compare indirect object

direct′ ob′ject

a word or group of words representing the person or thing upon which the action of a verb is performed or toward which it is directed, as the pronoun it in I saw it.

[1900–05]

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Noun

direct object - the object that receives the direct action of the verb

object of the verb

object - (grammar) a constituent that is acted upon; "the object of the verb"

Translations

complément d’objet directobjet direct

direct object

n (Gram) → direktes Objekt, Akkusativobjekt nt

References in classic literature ?

The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.

View in context

Bounderby always represented this to be the sole, immediate, and direct object of any Hand who was not entirely satisfied; 'and therefore I know already that you have not come here to make a complaint.

View in context

Prototypical Appraisal The Direct Object as evil and thus deserving

Cognitive emotion and the law

So the direct object of a verb is in the objective case in English, but when the direct object of an active-voice verb becomes the subject of a passive-voice verb, it goes into the nominative case:

Passive voice and expletive constructions

It [duh] can be constructed (a) with the subject of the milker and the direct object which refers (i) to the animal being milked (cow or cow substitute) or to the relevant body part (udder), or (ii) to the substance obtained by milking (milk or milk substitute, in particular, Soma); (P) with the subject of the cow (or cow substitute) and the accusative of milk etc.

The Vedic -ya-presents: Passives and Intransitivity in Old Indo-Aryan

First, in response to the argument from hallucination, Brewer denies that there is any direct object in hallucinatory experiences, either a mind-dependent or a mind-independent one.

Bill Brewer: Perception and its Objects

Dante, as in previous issues, remains an essential reference point for Italian studies, both as a direct object of investigation as well as a steady, sometimes hidden, presence for 'subsequent authors who relate to his search for justice or simply to his anthropological depiction of human life as imperfect and confined within roles.

Editorial note

As a rough generalization, one can say that these languages have a special morphological case for marking the subject (nominative), and a special case for marking a direct object (accusative).

Heinike Heinsoo, Ma ja pud levad, meid eb le. The Subject and the Predicate in Votic

The canonical word order in ditransitive sentences in Ikalanga is such that the indirect (applied) object precedes the direct object.

Object markers in Ikalanga

Borg says, "In English, prior to 1600, the verb believe always had a person as its direct object, not a statement.

God's holy remnant

And I don't mind if I get a letter from someone that actually uses a noun, verb, direct object and some of the other finer implements of language.

Living without: are we used to "too" much?

By-standers, so-called "secondary victims," can file lawsuits when they suffer mental harm as a result of having observed the primary victim's injuries, but who were themselves not the direct object of the tortfeasor's negligence.