Festisio  +  169932 Wed, 14 Dec 05 10:12 PM    Ok guys, heres something for you. The dog bit is a sentence by itself soooo. Is the dog bit the boy a sentence with a direct and indirect object? another question I have is, if i change the sentence to the boy was bitten by the dog. Then is it changing the sentence to a passive voice? Festisio Joined on Mon, Dec 12 2005 New Member 14 Not only am I perfect, I'm Italian too! Direct Objects, Indirect Objects

	CalifJim  +  169936 Wed, 14 Dec 05 10:17 PM "The dog bit" is a very unusual sentence. "The dog bit the boy" has a subject (dog), verb (bit), and direct object (boy).  It has no indirect object. "The boy was bitten by the dog" is the passive form of "The dog bit the boy", yes. CJ CalifJim Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004 California Veteran Member 22,465 "There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche Verbs, Direct Objects, Indirect Objects

	Festisio  +  169937 Wed, 14 Dec 05 10:19 PM Then is there anything i could add to, The dog bit the boy to make an indirect object? Festisio Direct Objects, Indirect Objects

	Festisio  +  169941 Wed, 14 Dec 05 10:40 PM can someone please give me some examples and explain to me how i can indentify indirect objects? Festisio Direct Objects, Indirect Objects

	Festisio  +  169943 Wed, 14 Dec 05 10:54 PM If I said, The dog bit the boy, which the girl let loose. Or while his little brother watched. Would that be an indirect object? Festisio Direct Objects, Indirect Objects

	CalifJim  +  169974 Thu, 15 Dec 05 01:16 AM The verb is what determines if an indirect object is possible. Some verbs that take indirect objects and direct objects are: give, bring, sell, buy, offer, promise, tell, ask Theresa gave Bob a new wallet. I will bring you the coffee tomorrow. They sold him a guitar. My sister bought George a coat. The salesman offered me a good deal. Be careful!  They'll promise you the moon! I'm sure that Jill told her mother the truth. The teacher asked the students some important questions. There are many more than those listed here, but "bite" isn't one of them. CJ CalifJim Verbs, Direct Objects, Indirect Objects

	paco2004  +  170053 Thu, 15 Dec 05 08:31 AM I think we can distinguish direct objects and indirect objects rather easily, because in English "direct objects" and "indirect objects" are defined syntactically, not semantically like the case distinction between accusatives and datives in German. If a verb is followed by two objects, the first one is an indirect object and the second one is a direct object. If a verb is followed only by an object, the object is always a direct object. For example, take a sentence like "I told him the story". Here we have two objects "him" and "the story". So "him" is an indirect object and "the story" is a direct object. Next let's take "I told him so" as an example sentence. Here we have only one object "him". So "him" here is a direct object despite the fact that it is semantically not different from the "him" in the previous example. paco paco2004 Joined on Wed, Nov 17 2004 Senior Member 4,095 In Japan today even dogs are learning how to bow-wow in English. Verbs, Direct Objects, Indirect Objects

	Festisio  +  170188 Thu, 15 Dec 05 05:14 PM ok so like Jan gave Sally a gift Sally is the indirect object and gift is the direct object? Festisio Direct Objects, Indirect Objects

	khoff  +  170192 Thu, 15 Dec 05 05:32 PM Paco -- I'm not sure you can always say that the first of two objects is automatically the indirect object.  What if you said "I told the story to the man in the long white coat"?  "The story" is still the direct object, even though it now precedes the indirect object.  "The man in the long white coat" is the indirect object. I'm also not sure that in "I told him so" "him" is now a direct object.  I am not nearly as expert in English grammar rules as you are, so I hesitate to contradict you - but my intuition tells me that the direct object of the verb "tell" answers the question "tell what?", while the indirect object answers the question "tell to whom?"  I would say that in the sentence "I told him," "him" is the indirect object and the direct object is an unstated "it."  Is that possible?  khoff Joined on Sun, Mar 6 2005 Senior Member 3,278 Native speaker of American English (but not a grammar expert) Grammar, Verbs, Whom, English Grammar, Direct Objects, Indirect Objects