Direct Object

D.O. I.O.

S.C.

SUBJ PRED

action

linking

The direct object is the noun or pronoun that receives the action of the transitive action verb.

Popeye eats spinach.

I still love someone.

He greeted you and me.

When there is a direct object, we call the action verb transitive because the verb carries a transit of energy from the subject to the object; when the action verb does not act on a direct object, we call the action verb intransitive; linking verbs are neither.

Notice that subject pronouns may not be used as direct objects because a subject is a subject, and an object is an object.

You cannot say James greeted you and I; It must be James greeted you and me.

The direct object is the object of the action. Passive voice action verbs do not have direct objects because their subjects are receiving action, not doing it:

The revolution was affected by the drought.

Action is good: Sentences that have direct objects are interesting. They have strength because they have action; the subject is doing something. The subject of the active voice transitive action verb is doing something to someone else, and this holds the reader’s attention.

transitive action verb: The hungry traveler gobbled his food.Intransitive action verb: The hungry traveler gobbled noisily.Passive voice action verb: The food was gobbled noisily.Linking verb: The traveler was hungry.

If we let AVP stand for action verb predicate, and D.O. stand for direct object, we can analyze a sentence this way, showing both level one and level two:

In the morning Euclid drew a hexagon in the sand.

prep. adj. n. n. v. adj. n. prep. adj. n.

subj. AVP D.O.

Alexander greeted Sisygambis and her without diffidence.

n. v. n. conj. pron. prep. n.

Subj. AVP ------------------D.O.----------

Here we see a compound direct object, Sisygambis and her, which receives the action of the active voice transitive action verb greeted. Alexander, the subject, does the greeting, and this energy transists through the verb to the direct object, the two people who get greeted. Note that an object pronoun, her, is used for the direct object.

With serenity, Polonius ate a whole plate of fried drumsticks.

prep. n. n. v.adj. adj. n. prep. adj. n.

subj. AVP D.O.

Notice that it is the plate that is the direct object; the object of preposition is not eligible to be a direct object.