Question about objects.

Question

This question is related to direct and indirect objects. I am quite confused about identifying the verbs that take direct or indirect objects or both. The objects are the nouns which follow the verb.
For instance:

“Jill gave advice to me.”
The objects are “advice” and “me”.

I was looking at the verb "say". In the dictionary(http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/say), it is given that it takes object.

For instance,
“Is anybody there?” he said. (what is the object in this sentence)?

Is the part in the double quote object(DO)?

By the same token,

If anyone says me or to me, "Don't give up, you are doing well" , then I feel very happy.

In this sentence, say, which takes, but does it take DO or IO or both? Which one is correct and how?

How to identify an object in a sentence?

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Transitive verbs have direct objects (and only transitive verbs can be put into the passive voice). Intransitive verbs don't. But it gets complicated because almost all verbs can be transitive or intransitive.

1. "Jill gave advice to me." (The verb "gave" is transitive. The direct obj. is "advice." "To me" is the indirect obj.)
This sentence can also be said as: "Jill gave me advice." (Same dir. and indir. objects as above.)

Note that the verb "gave" can also be intransitive (no dir. obj.): "Jill gave until she ran out of funds."

2. "Is anybody there?" he said. (The verb "said" is transitive. The dir. obj. is apparently the group of words, "Is anybody there?" There is no indirect obj. here - not all transitive verbs will have both a dir. and an indir. obj.)

3. "If anyone says to me, 'Don't give up, you are doing well.', then I feel very happy." (The verb "says" is transitive here. The direct obj. is apparently the group of words 'Don't give up, you are doing well.' The indirect obj. is "to me" - this is as though the sentence were: "If anyone says this ['Don't give up....doing well.'] to me, I feel...")

To identify a dir. obj., look for a noun that is acted on directly by the verb. And indir. obj., if there is one, is also a noun, and will not be acted on directly by the verb, but will still have a kind of secondary association with the verb. For example:

"He threw the ball." ("Threw" is transitive, the dir. obj. is "the ball." No indir. obj. in the sentence.)

"He threw the ball to me." ("Threw" transitive, dir. obj. is "the ball," indir. obj. is "to me." Note that this sentence can also be said as: "He threw me the ball." - the dir. obj. and indir. obj. is the same here.)

"He threw straight." (Here "threw" is intransitive, so there is no direct obj. The word "straight" is an adverb, not a noun.)

Harry1999 · Answer

AnonymousTransitive verbs have direct objects (and only transitive verbs can be put into the passive voice). Intransitive verbs don't. But it gets complicated because almost all verbs can be transitive or intransitive.1. "Jill gave advice to me." (The verb "gave" is transitive. The direct obj. is "advice." "To me" is the indirect obj.)This sentence can also be said as: "Jill gave me advice." (Same dir. and indir. objects as above.)Note that the verb "gave" can also be intransitive (no dir. obj.): "Jill gave until she ran out of funds."2. "Is anybody there?" he said. (The verb "said" is transitive. The dir. obj. is apparently the group of words, "Is anybody there?" There is no indirect obj. here - not all transitive verbs will have both a dir. and an indir. obj.)3. "If anyone says to me, 'Don't give up, you are doing well.', then I feel very happy." (The verb "says" is transitive here. The direct obj. is apparently the group of words 'Don't give up, you are doing well.' The indirect obj. is "to me" - this is as though the sentence were: "If anyone says this ['Don't give up....doing well.'] to me, I feel...")To identify a dir. obj., look for a noun that is acted on directly by the verb. And indir. obj., if there is one, is also a noun, and will not be acted on directly by the verb, but will still have a kind of secondary association with the verb. For example:"He threw the ball." ("Threw" is transitive, the dir. obj. is "the ball." No indir. obj. in the sentence.)"He threw the ball to me." ("Threw" transitive, dir. obj. is "the ball," indir. obj. is "to me." Note that this sentence can also be said as: "He threw me the ball." - the dir. obj. and indir. obj. is the same here.)"He threw straight." (Here "threw" is intransitive, so there is no direct obj. The word "straight" is an adverb, not a noun.)

I think it works in the same way as the verb “explain” does. Monotransitive verbs take only one object, a direct object.
For instance:
1. Can you explain the details to me?
2. Can you explain me the details?
#1 is correct as it is a monotransitve verb, which has a DO “the details” and “to me” is a prepositional complement. #2 is considered ungrammatical.
3. He sent me a letter.
4. He sent a letter to me.
Here, “sent” is a ditransitive verb and both are grammatically correct. But, “to me” is not an object as opposed to “me” (IO) and “a letter” (DO).
Usually, we can get the objects, when we ask questions what and (to) whom to the verb.
This doesn’t work completely for “explain”, but it gives us a direct object, “the details”.
My question is what is the object in the following sentences?
5. I said to him “Leave me alone” OR “I said leave me alone!”
6. It is hard to say what caused the injury.
“Say” is intransitive here: There’s no saying [=it is impossible to know] how many people died in the earthquake. [no obj] [=it is impossible to know] how many people died in the earthquake. [no obj].
What do you think?

Anonymous · Answer

5. The dir. obj. in both sentences is apparently the group of words, "leave me alone." This is similar to saying: "I said this to him." and "I said this."

6. This is an unusual sentence structurally. "It" is the same thing as "to say what caused the injury," a group of words which functions as a noun. What you have here is essentially an apposition: "It, to say what caused the injury, is hard." Within the group of words, "to say what caused the injury," the infinitive, "to say," retains verb-like qualities and has a direct obj., "what caused the injury," another group of words which functions like a noun.

Harry1999 · Answer

Thanks for the help. <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/2.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/2.gif' alt='Emotion: big smile'/>

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