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Realisations of the Direct Object
The Direct Object is most often realised by an NP, as in the examples above. However, this function can also be realised by a clause. The following table shows examples of clauses functioning as Direct Objects:
| CLAUSES functioning as DIRECT OBJECTS | EXAMPLES |
| Finite That-clause Nominal relative clause | [1] He thought that he had a perfect alibi [2] The officer described what he saw through the keyhole |
| Nonfinite To-infinitive clause Bare infinitive clause -ing clause -ed clause | [3]The dog wants to play in the garden [4]She made the lecturer laugh [5]Paul loves playing football [6]I'm having my house painted |
Subjects and Objects, Active and Passive
A useful way to compare Subjects and Direct Objects is to observe how they behave in active and passive sentences. Consider the following active sentence:
Active: Fire destroyed the palace
Here we have a Subject fire and a Direct Object the palace.
Now let's convert this into a passive sentence:
The change from active to passive has the following results:
1. The active Direct Object the palace becomes the passive Subject
2. The active Subject fire becomes part of the PP by fire (the by-agent phrase).
The Indirect Object
Some verbs occur with two Objects:
We gave [John] [a present]
Here, the NP a present undergoes the "action" (a present is what is given). So a present is the Direct Object. We refer to the NP John as the INDIRECT OBJECT.
Indirect Objects usually occur with a Direct Object, and they always come before the Direct Object. The typical pattern is:
Subject -- Verb -- Indirect Object -- Direct Object
Here are some more examples of sentences containing two objects:
| Indirect Object | Direct Object | |
| Tell | me | a story |
| He showed | us | his war medals |
| We bought | David | a birthday cake |
| Can you lend | your colleague | a pen? |
Verbs which take an Indirect Object and a Direct Object are known as DITRANSITIVE verbs. Verbs which take only a Direct Object are called MONOTRANSITIVE verbs. The verb tell is a typical ditransitive verb, but it can also be monotransitive:
| Indirect Object | Direct Object | ||
| Ditransitive | David told | the children | a story |
| Monotransitive | David told | a story |
As we've seen, an Indirect Object usually co-occurs with a Direct Object. However, with some verbs an Indirect Object may occur alone:
David told the children
although we can usually posit an implicit Direct Object in such cases:
David told the children the news
Realisations of the Indirect Object
NPs are the most common realisations of the Indirect Object. It is a typical function of pronouns in the objective case, such as me, him, us, and them.
Less commonly, a clause will function as Indirect Object:
David told whoever saw her to report to the police
Adjuncts
Certain parts of a sentence may convey information about how, when, or where something happened:
He ate his meal quickly (how)
David gave blood last week (when)
Susan went to school in New York (where)
The highlighted constituents here are ADJUNCTS. From a syntactic point of view, Adjuncts are optional elements, since their omission still leaves a complete sentence:
He ate his meal quickly ~He ate his meal
David gave blood last week ~David gave blood
Susan went to school in New York ~Susan went to school
Many types of constituents can function as Adjuncts, and we exemplify these below.
Date: 2015-12-17; view: 1011
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