Indirect Objects

Indirect Objects

​

Direct objects receive the action of the verb. They are directly affected by the action.

Ex. Alice poured lemonade. (lemonade is the direct object)

Indirect objects answer the question to whom? or for whom? an action is done. They are indirectly affected by the action of the verb. They essentially receive the direct object.

• Ex. Alice poured me lemonade. (me is the indirect object)

• Alice didn’t pour me. Alice poured lemonade FOR me.

Indirect objects must ALWAYS come between the verb and the direct object. If you can answer the question to whom? or for whom? with information that comes after the direct object, then that is not an indirect object. It is typically the object of the preposition.

​

Ex. Alice poured lemonade for me. (for me is a prepositional phrase, and me is the object of the preposition. It is not an indirect object)

• Ex. I sang my grandma a song.

• I sang a song for my grandma.

Identify the indirect object in the following sentences.

Not every sentence contains an indirect object.

Multiple Choice

Mrs. Jones bought Ellie a new dress for the party.

• Ellie

• dress

• party

• no indirect object

Multiple Choice

Dad gave Ted permission to use the car.

• Dad

• Ted

• permission

• no indirect object

Multiple Choice

The child care program brought the center statewide attention.

• child

• program

• center

• no indirect object

Multiple Choice

I ate dinner with my family.

• I

• dinner

• family

• no indirect object

Multiple Choice

The food pantry gives people groceries.

• pantry

• people

• groceries

• no indirect object

Multiple Choice

Brian plays drums in the band.

• Brian

• drums

• band

• no indirect object

Multiple Choice

Manuel sold his cousin a used computer.

• cousin

• used

• computer

• no indirect object

Multiple Choice

The teacher assigned a research project to our class.

• research

• project

• class

• no indirect object

Multiple Choice

He always tells his friends jokes.

• his

• friends

• jokes

• no indirect object

Multiple Choice

The mailman delivered me a package from Amazon.

• me

• package

• Amazon

• no indirect object