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Glite Dictionary
direct object

direct object

1 3.9
A word or group of words that names people and things and receives the action of a verb
  • noun
  • /dəˈrɛkt ˈɑbʤɛkt/
translation icon : objeto directo
  • In the sentence 'She read the book', 'the book' is the direct object because it receives the action of the verb.
  • use of direct object
  • direct object clitic

Well, because hoagie on is an irregular verb that takes a genitive direct object.

Examples

  • Andres' use of the verb redimir with el pueblo as its direct object is telling, since the idea of redemption is often associated with an individual's sacrifice for the sake of many; we have only to think of Jesus' role as humankind's redeemer in Christian doctrine.

    Academic text (2001)

  • Rather, its direct object was always personal; and "believe" meant what we mean by "belove."

    Blog text (10)

  • Ideally, the time element goes after the verb and its direct object.

    Blog text (12)

  • As I've noted here before, "advocate" is a transitive verb—that is, it should take a direct object ("He advocated repeal of the law").

    Blog text (19)

  • In the clause 'He gave his sister a gift', 'a gift' functions as the direct object of the verb 'gave'.

  • The phrase 'the ball' in 'The dog chased the ball' is the direct object, directly receiving the action of chasing.

Synonyms

object of the verb
vsdirect object
  • Specialized
3.3

A noun or pronoun that gets the action of a verb

is the shorter technical name often used in grammar explanations

Antonyms

indirect object
5.1

A person or thing that gets the benefit of an action, often with a direct object

Surface Forms

direct object singular
direct objects plural

Morphology

direct + object

The meaning 'a noun phrase that receives the action of a verb directly' is transparently built from 'direct' (immediate, without an intermediary) + 'object' (the noun phrase receiving a verb's action). This compositional reading matches common grammatical terminology across many languages (e.g. Spanish objeto directo, French objet direct), so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words should be able to derive the meaning.

Etymology

Direct object: The term direct object shows that direct means 'straight' and object means the thing. Imagine the verb 'throw' acting on a ball: the ball is the direct object because it 'receives the action' and answers 'what?' or 'whom?'.