You are on page 1of 16

Nouns

Definition:

A noun is a name given to an object or idea.

Classes/Kinds of Nouns:
1. A common noun is a name given to any one of a class of object 2 A proper noun is the official title of a specific object; it is therefore always capitalized (Dionysus, Bela Lugosi, Atlantic Ocean, Mother Goose). A proper noun can always be put into its common noun class: Texas -> state; Atlantic -> ocean; Bela Lugosi -> man (or actor) 3. A concrete noun is the name that can be perceivedbby one or more senses( air/ sound /aroma / warmth/taste). 4. An abstract noun is the name of a quality or idea (truth, ethics), feelings or intangible qualities. Abstract nouns can be formed by using the right noun suffix with adjectives, verbs or common nouns. Examples: Dark (adjective) + ness (noun suffix) = Darkness (abstract noun) Long (adjective) + evity (noun suffix) = Longevity (abstract noun) Observe (verb) + ation (noun suffix) = Observation (abstract noun) Punish (verb) + ment (noun suffix) = Punishment (abstract noun) King (common noun) + ship (noun suffix) = Kingship (abstract noun) Mother (common noun) + hood (noun suffix) = Motherhood 5. A collective noun is the name of a group of things (mob, herd). 6 A mass noun is the name that can be measured but cannot counted individually. It takes singular form. 7. A count noun is the name that refers to objects that can be counted. 8. Material Nouns: Material Nouns refer to the constituent of a common noun. For example, in the sentence The plastic chair is broken. The word plastic is a material noun. Material Nouns can be placed in the following groups: Metals: gold, silver, copper, etc. Products in bulk: tea, sugar, flour, milk, etc. Geological Bodies: sand, rocks etc. Natural Phenomena: rain, dew, etc. Other Manufactured items: cloth, soap, plastic, wood, etc. 9. Compound nouns are nouns that have two words as one unit in it. Some with hyphen.

Properties of Nouns
There are four basic properties for English nouns: 1. Gender - a property that indicates the sex of the referent. These include: Masculine - king, uncle, boy, etc. Feminine - queen, aunt, girl, witch, etc. Common - parent, singer, table, etc. Neuter_ no sex, soap, car, package

Gender is a distinction with regard to sex. While many languages have morphological gender changes in the form of nouns and the adjectives that modify those nouns, English does not. English has some nouns that are most commonly associated with a single gender; however, many of these distinctions, especially with respect to nouns associated with human beings, are disappearing. There are three genders: masculine feminine neuter The gender of singular nouns has some importance when used with a pronoun that represents it. This is because pronouns in the third person singular have masculine, feminine, and neuter forms. Nouns that denote males are of the masculine gender. Nouns which denote females are of the feminine gender. Nouns which do not explicitly denote either males or females are of the neuter gender. Most nouns denote either males or females. For example Man, king, and father are masculine nouns. Woman, queen, and mother are feminine nouns. Tree, rock, and paper are neuter nouns. Parent, child, cousin, friend, and neighbor can be either masculine or feminine but are not neuter. Nouns that can be either masculine or feminine are said to be of the common gender. The actual gender of such nouns can generally be determined by the context of the noun. In current English, there is little need to make gender distinctions with nouns. Using the personification figure of speech, masculine or feminine gender can be applied to inanimate objects. Thus, we say of a ship, She sails well; of the sun, He rises in the east. The use of this figure imparts peculiar beauty and animation to language. For example Her flag streams wildly, and her fluttering sails pant to be on their flight. The meek-eyed morn appears, mother of dews. In speaking of most animals and sometimes even of infants the distinction of sex is not observed. For example In the following sentence: And it became a serpent, and Moses fled from before it. the noun serpent is neuter. This is shown by the use of the neuter pronoun it to replace the noun serpent. In the following sentence:

The child was lying in its cradle.


the noun child is treated as neuter. An animal distinguished for boldness, size, or any other marked quality often referred to as masculine in gender when the sex is not known. For example The eagle is the king of birds.

Methods of Distinguishing the Sexes


Distinguishing the sexes can be done using different words. Masculine and Feminine Nouns Masculine Feminine boy girl brother sister master mistress uncle aunt son daughter nephew niece lord lady man woman husband wife king queen prince princess bull cow rooster hen stag doe Some originally masculine nouns have no corresponding feminine form even thought the noun now refers to a person of either gender. For example baker brewer carrier Some originally feminine nouns have no corresponding masculine form even though the noun now refers to a person of either gender. For example laundress seamstress nurse
2. Person - property indicating the relationship between the noun and the speaker. These include: First person - object(s) speaking (I, John, am here.) Second person - object(s) spoken to (John, come here.) Third person - object(s) spoken of (John is here.) 3. Number - An indication of one or more than one object. This includes: Singular - denotes one object (cat)

Plural - denotes more than one object (cats)

Plural Forms
In English, plural nouns are formed in different ways: 1. Regular plurals - Formed by adding -s or -es to singular noun forms (cars, boxes, etc.) 2. Irregular plurals - Formed by spelling change (foot -> feet; mouse -> mice; child -> children) 3. Double plurals - A noun that can have both a regular and irregular plural form (brother -> brothers or brethren; bandit -> bandits or banditti) 4. Plurals treated as singular - Some nouns have a plural form but a singular meaning(news; means; physics, dollars

Regular Formation of the Plural


The plural of nouns is regularly formed two ways: o by adding s, when the singular ends with a sound that can coalesce with an s. For example Book becomes books. Tree becomes trees. 2. by adding es when the singular ends with a sound that cannot coalesce with s. For example 1. Box becomes boxes. 2. Church becomes churches. When es is added, s has the voiced sound of z. For example 1. Fox becomes foxes. 2. Branch becomes branches. when s only is added, it has the voiced sound of z when it unites or coalesces with a vowel. For example 1. Folio becomes folios. 2. Flea becomes fleas. This follows the rule for the combination of consonants when it follows a consonant. The sound is that of an s when it follows an aspirate. For example 1. Hat becomes hats. 2. Cap becomes caps. 3. Surf becomes surfs. 4. Clock becomes clocks. The sound is a z when it follows a subvocal. For example 1. Lad becomes lads. 2. Log becomes logs. 3. Ball becomes balls. 4. Farm becomes farms. 5. Fan becomes fans. 6. War becomes wars. The s or es adds a syllable when it does not coalesce with the final syllable of the singular. For example

Church becomes churches. Race becomes races. Cage becomes cages. The s or es does not add a syllable when it coalesces with the final syllable.
1. 2. 3.

For example
1. 2.

Work becomes works. Echo becomes echoes.

Irregular Formation of the Plural


When the final s, contrary to the rule, is subvocal, after the aspirate sounds f, the f must be changed into its correlative v. A;so notice that in this case, the letter in the spelling of the word also changes. For example 1. Loaf becomes loaves. 2. Life becomes lives. 3. Sheaf becomes sheaves. 4. Thief becomes thieves. When f is aspirate, as in the plural of dwarf, brief, scarf, reef, chief, grief, kerchief, handkerchief, gulf, surf, turf, serf, proof, hoof, roof, safe, fife, strife, the f is not changed. Staff when it means a stick, has staves for its plural. When it means a set of officers, the plural is staffs. The plural of wharf, in the United States, is wharves. In England the plural is wharfs. The s added to the aspirate is also sub-vocal except in truth, youth, and a few other words. Adding the s causes a similar change in the orthography of the plural were not the correlative also represented by th. For example 1. Oath becomes oaths. 2. Bath becomes baths. Most nouns ending in o preceded by a consonant, add es even though s alone would coalesce. For example 1. Cargo becomes cargoes. However, for the words zero, canto, grotto, quarto, duodecimo, octavo, solo, portico, tyro, halo, piano, memento, while most writers add only s, some writers add es. Both forms are acceptable. Nouns ending in o preceded by a vowel follow the general rule. For example 2. Folio becomes folios. 3. Cameo becomes cameos. Nouns ending in y proceeded by a consonant change y into ie and add s. For example 1. Glory becomes glories. 2. Mercy becomes mercies. Nouns ending in y preceded by a vowel form the plural regularly. For example 1. Day becomes days.

2. Key becomes keys. The following plurals are irregular: 1. Man becomes men. 2. Woman becomes women. 3. Ox becomes oxen. 4. Goose becomes geese. 5. Child becomes children. 6. Foot becomes feet. 7. Louse becomes lice. 8. Mouse becomes mice. 9. Tooth becomes teeth. Note The old form plural of cow was kine.

Some nouns have both a regular and an irregular plural, but the two forms have usually different meaning. For example Brother becomes brothers in current usage and when it refers to members of the family. In past usage, the plural of brother when it referred to members of the same society was brethren. The word die becomes dies when it refers to a machine tool or stamps. The plural is dice when it refers to the cubes used in playing games and gambling. The word genius becomes geniuses when it refers to persons of high intelligence. It becomes genii when it refers to spirits. The word index becomes indexes when it refers to tables of reference. The plural is indices when referring to signs in algebra. Names of substances and most abstract nouns commonly have no plural form. For example 1. Gold, cider, flax, milk, tar, goodness, and darkness do not have plurals in their normal meaning. When different kinds of the substances are referred to by a single word, the plural form is used. For example 2. Water becomes waters when referring to several different kinds or bodies of water. 3. Wine becomes wines when referring to several different kinds of wine. In compound words, if the word denoting the principal idea is placed first, it is changed to form the plural. For example 1. The plural of court-martial is courts-martial. 2. The plural of hanger-on is hangers-on. If the principal word is placed last, the final word is changed. For example 1. Handful becomes handfuls. 2. Both parts, seemingly equally prominent, are changed in man-servant, woman-servant, and knight-templar. For example 1. Man-servant becomes men-servants.

2. 3.

Woman-servant becomes women-servants. Knight-templar becomes knights-templars.

Letters, marks, figures, and signs are pluralized by adding an apostrophe () and s. The plural of groups of years such as the 1940s is written without an apostrophe. For example the ss; the Us; the *s; the 9s; the + s When other parts of speech are used as nouns, their plurals are formed regularly. For example 1. the ifs, ands, and buts 2. the whys and wherefores 3. at sixes and sevens Many nouns from foreign languages retain their original plurals. For example 1. The plural of antithesis is antitheses. 2. The plural of automaton is automata. 3. The plural of basis is bases. 4. The plural of beau is beaux. 5. The plural of crisis is crises. 6. The plural of datum is data. 7. The plural of ellipsis is ellipses. 8. The plural of focus is foci. 9. The plural of formula is formulae. 10. The plural of hypothesis is hypotheses. 11. The plural of medium is media. 12. The plural of minutia is minutiae. 13. The plural of metamorphosis is metamorphoses. 14. The plural of nebula is nebulae. 15. The plural of phenomenon is phenomena. 16. The plural of radius is radii. 17. The plural of seraph is seraphim. 18. The plural of stimulus is stimuli. 19. The plural of vortex is vortices.

Plural of Proper Names


In normal usage, the proper name an individual person or object has no plural. Also, the name of a state or country has no plural. For example Virginia does not normally have a plural. Thanksgiving does not normally have a plural. Dwight Eisenhower in its normal meaning does not have a plural.

When several members of the same family or several people with the same name are refered to, the proper name may have a plural form. For example the Tudors the twelve Caesars The proper names of ethnic groups, communities, and citizens of a nation are plural. For example the Indians the Baptists the Texans the Romans The plurals of proper names are formed, as a general rule, according to the analogy of common names. Singular Plural Canada Canadas Methoist Methodists Otto Ottoes Ptolemy Ptolemies When two or more names, applied to the same individual, stand next to each other, they are generally considered as one complex name, and are made plural by varying the last only. For example the George Washingtons May there not be Sir Isaac Newtons in every science? When a title, such as Miss, Mrs., Mr., Ms., Messrs., Gen., Capt., or Dr., is prefixed to a proper name, usage in the past was not uniform in the formation of the plural. Sometimes the title, sometimes the name, and sometimes both, have been varied. For example the Drs. Brown the Mr. Thompsons the Capts. Winthrops In current usage, these plurals are seldom used at all and the plural would normally be formed by making the last element only plural. For example the Dr. Browns the Mr. Thompsons the Capt. Winthrops

Remarks on the Number of Nouns


Nouns without a plural
Most proper nouns and nouns denoting substance, except when different sorts are expressed, have no plural. For example The nouns gold, grass, and wine normally do not have plurals.

When speaking of several different kinds of wine, gold, or grass, the words wines, golds, and grasses can be used. For example They will try the wines of France and of Italy. Kentucky blue and rye are two very different grasses.

Nouns without the singular


In normal usage, the following nouns have no singular: scissors vespers ashes clothes billiards vitals bellows drawers nippers tongs shears

Lungs, bowels, and some others, have a singular denoting a part of the whole. Embers, oats, and intestines are seldom used in the singular.
The following words are plural in respect to their original form, but singular or plural in respect to their meaning: alms amends news riches pains (meaning effort) odds wages molasses series suds corps measles tidings mumps rickets nuptials The names of some of the sciences, such as mathematics, ethics, optics, statistics, mechanics, and linguistics are plural in form but either singular or plural in meaning.

Nouns either singular or plural


Some nouns are alike in both numbers. For example vermin

trout swine salmon dozen yoke deer sheep gross


4. Case - Indicates the grammatical function of the object. Or job that the noun has in a sentence. These include:

a. Nominative - The noun is the doer of the action (or the subject) The sun shines. (subj) Grant was a general. (subj complement) The chief, an old man, rose. (appositive) Charles, please come here. (direct address) Further Studies: Nominative
The nominative case is the basic form of the noun. This is most typically used when the noun is the subject of a sentence. This is also the dictionary form of the noun so when you see a noun in thevocabulary it is generally in the nominative case unless otherwise specified. There is also a plural form of the nominative for animate nouns (inanimate nouns are the same in singular and plural). Uses: When a noun is the subject of the sentence

"a dog bit a horse." "The warriors saw the pot that the foreigner had made." "Is the jug heavy?"
In zero copula sentences in present tense the predicate argument is in nominative case. As usual, so is the subject.

I am a healer."
Some prepositions assign nominative

"A cat was lying on a tent." "Greetings, learner."


Often when nouns are not bound to a sentence syntax

b. Objective - The noun is acted upon; noun that follows a transitive verb or a preposition is said to

be the object of the verb or the object of the preposition. Nouns and pronouns used as the object of a verb or objects of a preposition are in the objective case. For example In the sentence: Thomas opened his knife. knife is the object of the transitive verb opened and is in the objective case.In the sentence: The bird sat on the tree. tree is the object of the preposition on and is in the objective case.

Bob repelled the intruder. (d/o) Mom gave Ellen a hug. (i/o) Tom hit Bill, the new boy. (appositive of d/o) Mom gave Ellen, her daughter, a hug. (appositve of i/o) The man under the tree smiled. (obj prep)

c. Possessive( genitive) - Denotes ownership or agency The boys kite... (one boy) The boys kite... (more than one boy) John and Bills kite... (joint ownership) Johns and Bills kites... (indiv. ownership)
Uses: When a noun functions and a possessor of an alienable possession "Warrior's dog bit a horse." "It ate the food of the turtles." Some prepositions assign genitive "He is standing in front of you." Some verbs assign genitive as a special object case "A lion walked beside the wolf." "A merchant asked about the gold."

d.Accusative - The accusative case is most typically used when a noun becomes the object of a sentence. For inanimate nouns the accusative form is simply the bare stem of the word. In most cases, if the noun ends in a consonant, the word is the stem as-is. If it ends in a vowel, the final vowel is stripped off. In some cases, an /-e/ is added if vowelstripped form is changed by epenthesis. Thus, the nominative os is also os in the accusative. The nominative jano turns into the accusative jan. The vocabulary often shows the accusative form of a noun. For animate nouns the accusative case is denoted by the suffix /-es/ for singular nouns, regardless of what letter the noun ends in. For plurals the accusative is /-is/, if the noun stem ends in consonant, and /-es/ (the same as the singular), if the noun stem ends in vowel. There is a rare irregularity that affects a few animate noun accusatives: if an animate noun stem end with two vowels, last of which is i, in accusative the i changes to y. mai mayes; lei leyes
Uses: When a noun is a direct object in a sentence "A horse bit a a dog." "The warriors saw the woman whom the foreigner had kissed." When a noun functions as a prepositionless adverb of time or place "I will need the bow today."

e. Allative
The allative case is mostly used to denote movement towards the noun. Uses: When a noun functions as a destination or goal of an action - "We are travelling to the mountain." When a noun functions as a limit of a time period "I will wait until she arrives." In zero copula sentences in future tense the predicate argument is in allative case. "I'll become a healer." Some prepositions assign allative "She rode along the road." Some verbs assign allative as a special object case -- "Boys respect fathers." "The goat kicked at the slave."

f. Ablative
The ablative case is mostly used to denote movement away from the noun. Uses: When a noun functions as a starting point of an action "We come from the mountain." When a noun functions as a beginning of a time period "I have waited since when we arrived here." In zero copula sentences in past tense the predicate argument is in ablative case. "I was a healer." When a noun functions and a possessor of an inalienable possession "A dog bit warrior's hand." Some prepositions assign ablative "The warrior killed him despite of the respect." Some verbs assign ablative as a special object case ___ - "The pot was full of locusts." "The husband was the fattest of the warriors."

Role/Uses of Nouns in a sentence


A noun can have a variety of functions in English, including: 1. Subject of a verb - who/what does the action. The water ripples. Sparks flew. 2. Object of a verb - who/what receives the action; for whom/what? I scratched my nose. (d/o) I gave the lady the case. (i/o) 3. Object of a preposition - the what? of the preposition. A preposition is a word that shows location, movement, or direction. Common ones are in, on, with, under for, and by. A preposition is always followed by a noun or pronoun that is called the object of the preposition. Together, they form a prepositional phrase The pendulum swings over the pit. 4. Object Complement - completes the meaning of another noun or pronoun. . It is used when the direct object would not make complete sense by itself.

I am a student. (sub. complement) I saw Joe, the new hire. (obj complement)

5. Appositive - A noun used to explain or identify another nounal. An appositive is a word or phrase that comes after another word. It explains, identifies, or gives information about that word. The appositive is set off from the sentence by one or two commas I waved at my guest, a strange fellow. The story, a tale of fabulous imagination. I called Bob, my professor.

6. Predicate Noun A predicate noun comes after the verb to be or a linking verb that replaces or means the same thing as the subject of the sentence My brother is the clown

What are noun complements?


There are two kinds of complements, subject complements and object complements. Complements is also whatever answers the question WHOM or WHAT after a VERB. Complements combine with verbs and their subjects to form CLAUSE. Clause = Subject+Verb+ Complements. Ex. 1. Fire Burns - no(zero complements) complements. No answers to WHOM or WHAT 2. Sugar is sweet. Sugar is whom or what ans: sweet. Subject Complement: A subject complement is the adjective, noun, or pronoun that follows a linking verb;

it is normally an adjective or a noun that renames or defines in some way the subject. Don't mistake a subject complement for a direct object, only linking verbs can have subject complements. Linking verbs are is/are/was/were/Sensory verbs : seem/feel/appear/become/smell/taste. Subject complements may be: 1. NOUN 2. Numerals 3. Noun Phrase 4. Adjectives 5. Adjective Phrases.

Subject Complements Predicate Nominative(noun) Linking Verb Predicate Adjective

+ Verb

Object Complements

Direct Obj.(received action directly) ans WHAT/WHO/WHOM, Noun or pronoun; it follows transitive verb Action verb Indirect obj. (received action through a medium) answers
TO/FOR

Their pizzas are delicious. Margaret is class president. Louie was president of the student body. ( president of student body is Louie) S lv predicate noun Ramon became angry when the bus was late. ( what is it that roman became? Ans:angry) S lv predicate adj. The Students looked miserable when the teacher announced a test s lv predicate adj. Aron may be the best quarterback in history.

S lv The man is S lv

pred. Noun Lonely Subject Complement.(Not an adverb!!!!!)

Object Complement: An object complement is a noun, pronoun, or adjective which follows after direct

object and renames it or tells what the direct object has become and will answer WHAT.. It is most often used with verbs of creating or nominating such as make, name, elect, paint, call, etc. Direct Obj.(received action directly) ans WHAT/WHO/WHOM, Noun or pronoun; it follows transitive verb. Action Verb
Indirect odj. (received action through a medium) answers TO/FOR

They make pizza that is delicious. They elected Margaret class president. St. Marys elected Sarah president of the parish council. Subject transitive D.O. Noun Complement

The Coach Subject The fans rated Subject vt

called Harold Annoying verb D.O. Adj. Complement Ryan Brian their favourite player d.o. o.c.n

What is a Direct Object? ( Usually a thing and answers WHAT/WHOM)


1.A word or phrase in a sentence referring to the person or thing receiving the action of a transitive verb. For example, in English, in mail the letter and call him, letter and him are direct objects.

2. In grammar, a direct object is the noun or pronoun or phrase that is directly affected by the action of a transitive verb. In the
sentence They bought a new house, a new house is the direct object of the verb bought.

3. A noun, pronoun, or group of words serving as the receiving end of an action, such as the ball in Tabitha hit the ball. A direct object
can be a word, phrase, or clause: Sam chose Rusty to play shortstop; I will never understand why he came home.

4. An object in grammar is part of a sentence, and often part of the predicate. It denotes somebody or something involved in
the subject's "performance" of the verb. Basically, it is what or whom the verb is acting upon. As an example, the following sentence is given: In the sentence "Bobby scored a goal", "a goal" is the object. "Bobby" is the subject (the agent, doer, or performer of the action), "score" is the action, and "goal" is the object (what or whom the action of the verb is acting upon). The verb in the clause determines whether there can or must be objects in the sentence, and if so how many and of what type. (See also Valency (linguistics).) In many languages, including English, the same verb can allow different structures: "Bobby scored" and "Bobby scored a goal" are both valid English sentences. Note that the meaning of the verb can be affected by the presence or absence of an object.
Ex. I made some coffee for you. Subject is I, made is verb, coffee is Direct Object, you is I.O.

Types of object
Objects fall into classes: direct objects, adpositional objects, and non-prepositional indirect objects. A direct object answers the question "What?", while an indirect object answers the question "To whom?" or "For whom?". An indirect object is the recipient of the direct object, or an otherwise affected participant in the event. There must be a direct object for an indirect object to be placed in a sentence. Some examples: In "The girl ate fruit", fruit is a direct object of the verb ate. It corresponds to the accusative of languages with grammatical cases. In "They sent him a postcard", him is a (non-prepositional) indirect object of the verb sent (which uses a double-object construction). It
typically corresponds to the dative case. In "I envied him his success", his success is an oblique object of the verb envied (it could be expressed for his success instead).

In "We listened to the radio", radio is the object of the preposition to, and the prepositional object of the simple past of the phrasal verb to listen to. It can correspond to a variety of cases and complements.

In many languages, including German, Latin, and Classical Arabic, objects can change form slightly (decline) to indicate what kind of object they are (their case). This does not happen in English (except for a few pronouns that do have separate subject and object forms, such as he versus him); rather, the type of object is indicated strictly by word order. Also, some objects are treated differently from others in particular languages. In Spanish, for example, human objects have to get a preposition 'a'. This is called differential object marking. Forms of object An object may take any of a number of forms, all of them nominal in some sense. Common forms include: A noun or noun phrase, as in "I remembered her advice." An infinitive or infinitival clause, as in "I remembered to eat." A gerund or gerund phrase, as in "I remembered being there." A declarative content clause, as in "I remembered that he was blond." An interrogative content clause, as in "I remembered why she had left." A fused relative clause, as in "I remembered what she wanted me to do." The object in linguistics In inflected languages, objects may be marked using morphological case. In many languages, the patient of a ditransitive verb is marked in the same way as the single object of a monotransitive verb, and is called the direct object. The recipient has its own marking, and is called the indirect object. In Latin and many other languages, the direct object is marked by the accusative case, while the indirect object is typically marked by the dative case. In more isolating languages such as English, objects are marked by their position in the sentence or using adpositions (like to in I gave a book to him). Modern English preserves a case distinction for pronouns, but it has conflated the accusative and dative into a single oblique case, the object pronouns him, her, me, etc., which may function either as direct or indirect objects. In some languages, the recipient of a ditransitive verb is marked in the same way as the single object of a monotransitive verb, and is called the primary object. The patient of ditransitive verbs has its own marking, and is called the secondary object. Such languages are called dechticaetiative languages, and are mostly found among African languages. An object can be turned into a syntactic subject using passive voice, if the language in question has such a construction. In dative languages, the direct object is promoted, while in dechticaetiative languages the primary object is promoted. English shares this property with dechticaetiative languages, since non-prepositional indirect objects can be promoted: Direct object: His colleagues sent him a postcard. A postcard was sent to him (by his colleagues). Indirect object: His colleagues sent him a postcard. He was sent a postcard (by his colleagues). In the immense majority of languages, where there is a preferred word order in the sentence, the object is placed somewhere after the subject. Analytic languages additionally tend to place the object after the verb, so that it remains separate from the subject.

What is Indirect Object?(Usually a person and answers TO/FOR whom /what)


An object indirectly affected by the action of a verb, as me in Sing me a song and turtles in He feeds turtles lettuce. 1. In grammar, an indirect object is a person or thing named as the recipient of the direct object of a transitive (or more strictly, ditransitive) verb. In the sentences I gave my sister a book and I gave her a book, my sister and her are the indirect objects. It will be seen that in this type the indirect object usually precedes the direct object. When both direct and indirect objects are pronouns, the reverse order is sometimes found (I gave it her back). 2. An alternative to this ditransitive construction is to use a preposition (usually to or for) before the indirect object with the indirect object then following the direct object (I gave a book to my sister / I handed the book to her / I handed it to her). 3. Verbs other than those of giving can have indirect objects, e.g. Tell me the truth (in which me is the indirect object) / He cooks his wife a hot meal every evening (in which his wife is the indirect object).

A noun, pronoun, or group of words naming something indirectly affected by the action of a verb: She showed me some carpet samples; The agent handed the Prentice family their tickets.

preposition to. For example, He showed (to) me the book. NOTES 1. Indirect Object can never follow prepositions and never follow object of preposition! Ex. 1. The dictator gave his family many gifts

Subject

verb

i.o

d.o

2. The dictator gave many gifts to his family Not an I.O.

You might also like