Direct and Indirect Objects A direct object is the receiver of action within a sentence, as in "He hit the ball.

" Be careful to distinguish between a direct object and an object complement:

They named their daughter Natasha.

In that sentence, "daughter" is the direct object and "Natasha" is the object complement, which renames or describes the direct object. The indirect object identifies to or for whom or what the action of the verb is performed. The direct object and indirect object are different people or places or things. The direct objects in the sentences below are in boldface; the indirect objects are in italics.

The instructor gave his students A's. Grandfather left Rosalita and Raoul all his money. Jo-Bob sold me her boat.

Incidentally, the word me (and similar object-form pronouns such as him, us, them) is not always an indirect object; it will also serve, sometimes, as a direct object.

Bless me/her/us! Call me/him/them if you have questions.

In English, nouns and their accompanying modifiers (articles and adjectives) do not change form when they are used as objects or indirect objects, as they do in many other languages. "The radio is on the desk" and "I borrowed the radio" contain exactly the same word form used for quite different functions. This is not true of pronouns, however, which use different forms for different functions. (He [subject] loves his grandmother. His grandmother loves him [object].) (See, also, pronoun cases.)

Direct and Indirect Speech

When using indirect or reported speech, the form changes. Usually indirect speech is introduced by the verb said, as in I said, Bill said, or they said. Using the verb say in this tense, indicates that something was said in the past. In these cases, the main verb in the reported sentence is put in the past. If the main verb is already in a past tense, then the tense changes to another past tense; it can almost be seen as moving even further into the past.

Verb tense changes also characterize other situations using indirect speech. Note the changes shown in the chart and see the table below for examples. With indirect speech, the use of that is optional. Direct Speech simple present He said, I go to school every day. simple past He said, I went to school every day. Indirect Speech simple past He said (that) he went to school every day. past perfect He said (that) he had gone to school every day.

present perfect past perfect He said, I have gone to school every He said (that) he had gone to school every day. day. present progressive He said, I am going to school every day. past progressive He said (that) he was going to school every day.

past progressive perfect progressive He said, I was going to school every He said (that) he had been going to school day. every day, future (will) He said, I will go to school every day. future (going to) He said, I am going to school every day. would + verb name He said (that) he would go to school every day. present progressive He said (that) he is going to school every day. past progressive He said (that) he was going to school every day Indirect Speech simple past He asked me if I went to school every day.* He asked me where I went to school.

Direct Speech auxiliary + verb name He said, Do you go to school every day? He said, Where do you go to school? imperative He said, Go to school every day.

infinitive He said to go to school every day.

*Note than when a Yes/No question is being asked in direct speech, then a construction with if or whether is used. If a WH question is being asked, then use the WH to introduce the clause. Also note that with indirect speech, these are examples of embedded questions. The situation changes if instead of the common said another part of the very to say is used. In that case the verb tenses usually remain the same. Some examples of this situation are given below.

Direct Speech simple present + simple present He says, I go to school every day. present perfect + simple present He has said, I go to school every day. past progressive + simple past He was saying, I went to school every day.

Indirect Speech simple present + simple present He says (that) he goes to school every day. present perfect + simple present He has said (that) he goes to school every day. past progressive + simple past He was saying (that) he went to school every day. past progressive + past perfect He was saying (that) he had gone to school every day.

future + simple present He will say, I go to school every day.

future + simple present He will say (that) he goes to school every day.

Another situation is the one in which modal constructions are used. If the verb said is used, then the form of the modal, or another modal that has a past meaning is used.

Direct Speech can He said, I can go to school every day. may He said, I may go to school every day. might He said, I might go to school every day. must He said, I must go to school every day. have to He said, I have to go to school every day. should He said, I should go to school every day. ought to He said, I ought to go to school every day.

Indirect Speech could He said (that) he could go to school every day. might He said (that) he might go to school every day.

had to He said (that) he had to go to school every day.

should He said (that) he should go to school every day. ought to He said (that) he ought to go to school every day.

While not all of the possibilities have been listed here, there are enough to provide examples of the main rules governing the use of indirect or reported speech. For other situations, try to extrapolate from the 5

examples here, or better still, refer to a good grammar text or reference book. Some other verbs that can be used to introduce direct speech are: ask, report, tell, announce, suggest, and inquire. They are not used interchangeably; check a grammar or usage book for further information