7.

THE OBJECT

7.1. DEFINITIONS & CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES

In grammar, the object denotes somebody or something involved in the subject's

"performance" of the verb.
Most grammarians accept that objects are subdivided into three classes: direct
objects, prepositional objects, and (non-prepositional) indirect objects.

7.1.1. Criteria for direct and indirect objects

a. Form
Noun phrases and clauses are typically used to express objects, irrespective of their type.
b. Position
Being an obligatory element for a transitive verb, a direct object is placed next to this
type of verb (Quirk, 1995: 724-726).
E.g. I gave him [Oi] my address [Od].
The object function requires the objective form for pronouns that have distinctive
case forms:
E.g. They amuse me [Od]. I amuse them [Od].
They gave me [Oi] some chocolate. I gave them [Oi] some chocolate.
If an object is coreferential with the subject, it usually requires a reflexive pronoun
which agrees with the subject. Similar agreement is required for an emphatic genitive
(my own, etc.) within the object:
E.g. You [S] can please yourself [Oi].
I [S] have given myself [Oi] a treat.
They [S] type their own letters [Od].
The object of an active clause may generally become the subject of the corresponding
passive clause:
E.g. We have finished the work [Od].
If both objects are present, it is often possible to make any of them the subject in a
corresponding passive clause:
E.g. We sent Jack [Oi] a copy of the letter [Od].
~ Jack [S] was sent a copy of the letter [0d].
~ A copy of the letter [S] was sent to Jack [Oi].
The ditransitive complementation pattern with an indirect object generally
corresponds to a pattern with a prepositional object, which is generally placed after
the direct object:
E.g. I'll send Charles another copy. ~ I'll send another copy to Charles.
The indirect object can generally be omitted without affecting the semantic
relations between the other elements:
E.g. David saved me a seat. ~ David saved a seat.
 c. Semantic properties
The direct object typically refers to an entity that is affected by the action denoted
in the clause:
E.g. Norman smashed a window in his father's car.
The indirect object typically refers to an animate being that is the recipient of the
action. It also applies to retained indirect objects in passive clauses:
E.g. No reply has been given to me.

7.1.2. Definition and features of prepositional objects

“The prepositional object can be defined as a secondary part of the sentence
completing the meaning of a verb in the sentence, of a noun or of an adjective and
consisting of a noun or of a noun-equivalent preceded by a preposition.” (Bantaş, 1977:
146)
The prepositional object is closely connected with verbs or adjectives that take
obligatory prepositions.
E.g. I was in the kitchen all day long. [in the kitchen = adverbial modifier of place]
I succeeded in convincing him. [in convincing = prepositional object]
I was afraid of his rude attitude. [of his rude attitude = prepositional object]
Prepositional verbs
Examples of prepositional verbs used with noun phrases as prepositional object are:
account for deal with
add to decide on
adjust to dwell (up)on
admit to enlarge rely on
agree with/on/to object to
aim at/for part with
allow for pay for
apply for pray for
concentrate on preach about/on
conform to provide for
consent to quarrel about/with
contribute to read about
Phrasal-prepositional verbs
PHRASAL-PREPOSITIONAL VERBS also take a prepositional object. The verbs marked [P] can
fairly readily occur in the passive:
keep up with (the Joneses)
catch up on (my reading)
look down on ['despise'] [P]
catch up with ['overtake']
look forward to ['anticipate with pleasure']
come down with (a cold)
 7.2. WAYS OF EXPRESSING OBJECTS

7.2.1. Expressing direct and indirect objects

The typical realizations of objects are represented by noun phrases, but verb phrases and
clauses (both finite and nonfinite) are common, too.
a. NOUN PHRASES are found in combinations with one or several objects
common or proper He gave the girl/Jill a book.
nouns S V Oi Od
We should help the blind.
I would have given that to him.
They saw him in the distance, but ignored him.
b. VERB PHRASES AND
CLAUSES
finite He told me1/ that he had brought us presents. 2/
He asked me1/ what my opinion about his departure was.
2/

nonfinite
- gerundial constructions I don't remember 1/ having seen his car in the alley 2/.
- infinitival constructions They wanted to see me.
They pleaded for the defendant to be set free.

We can divide verbs with one object into semantic groups according to the kinds of
subject and object expressed by noun phrase that they take:
▪ Verbs with typically animate subject + typically concrete object (carry, cover, examine,

see, win, clean, eat, stop, watch, write):

E.g. Our brother has won the gold medal again. ~ The gold medal was won (by our
brother).
▪ Verbs with typically animate subject + either concrete or abstract object (abolish,

define, explain, invent, report, utter, cover, discuss, forget, lose, rule):
E.g. We have found a solution. ~ A solution was found (by us).
▪ Verbs with typically animate subject + typically animate object (admire, despise, hug,

kiss, reject, ridicule, flatter, kill, meet, respect, support):

E.g. I respect my father. ~ The father is respected.
▪ Typically concrete or abstract subject + animate object (affect, bother, fascinate, satisfy,

trouble , deceive, grieve, please, surprise):

E.g. The news shocked our family. ~ Our family was shocked (by the news).
In combinations with two objects, with the direct object being expressed by non-
finite infinitival phrases (traditionally called Accusative + Infinitive construction), the
major verbal triggers are:
▪ causative verbs: to get, to let, to make, to have, to cause (cause uses the pattern verb
+ NP + to-infinitive)
E.g. They let 1/ me wait for them for three hours. 2/
 ▪ verbs of physical perception: to see, to hear, to listen, to watch, to feel.
E.g. They heard1/ me sing that song. 2/
▪ verbs of propositional attitude (mental perception): to assume, to believe, to

consider, to judge, to feel, to find.

E.g. We considered him to have been the traitor.
▪ verbs of liking and disliking: to want, to like, to love

E.g. I wanted him to have brought me something from his trip.

The triggers of the For-to Infinitive construction are:
▪ verbs of liking and disliking: to love, to hate, to prefer etc.
E.g. I would like for my sister to stop lying to everybody.
▪ exercitive verbs: to plead, to pray, to ask, to call, to shout
E.g. We pleaded for him to be let off.

Task
Identify the ways of expressing direct objects in the following sentences:
1. “He positively likes his car to break down because it brings out my gentlemanly
helplessness and his workmanlike skill and resource.” (G. B. Shaw, Man and Superman,
p. 89)
2. “I don’t mind your queer opinions.” (G. B. Shaw, Man and Superman, p. 77)
3. “If you were a married woman you would not like sitting in the housekeeper’s room
and being treated like a naughty child by young girls and old ladies without any serious
duties and responsibilities.” (G. B. Shaw, Man and Superman, p. 84)
4. “Invent me a means by which I can have love, beauty, romance, emotion, passion
without their wretched penalties, their expenses, their worries, their trials, their
illnesses and agonies and risks of death, their retinue of servants and nurses and doctors
and schoolmasters.” (G. B. Shaw, Man and Superman, p. 161)
5. “She won’t tell us anything.” (G. B. Shaw, Man and Superman, p. 67)
6. “That passion dignified them, gave them conscience and meaning, found them a mob
of appetites and organized them into an army of purposes and principles.” (G. B. Shaw,
Man and Superman, p. 88)
7. “The poor lady wants to be either let alone or let prattle about the things that interest
her.” (G. B. Shaw, Man and Superman, p. 101)
8. “Well, we two know these transfigured persons, these college passmen, these well
groomed monocular Algys and Bobbies, these cricketers to whom age brings golf
instead of wisdom.” (G. B. Shaw, Man and Superman, p. xxiv)
9. “You cannot understand how I feel on this subject.” (G. B. Shaw, Man and Superman, p.
85)
10. “You think that you are Ann’s suitor; that you are the pursuer and she the pursued;
that it is your part to woo, to persuade, to prevail, to overcome.” (G. B. Shaw, Man and
Superman, p. 92)
7.2.2. Expressing prepositional objects

a. NOUN PHRASES are found in combinations with one or several objects

- common or proper nouns He got interested in that topic.
She thought of her childhood when she saw the movie.

- pronouns They have been fighting against each other.

I was afraid of him.
I was ashamed of nothing.
b. VERB PHRASES AND
CLAUSES
- finite clauses They prevented us 1/ from what could have been a
disaster.2/

- nonfinite
- gerundial constructions
- infinitival constructions
I was satisfied 1/ with Rob’s/ Rob accepting our generous
offer. 2/
You’ll be forced to dream about somebody else. (G. B. Shaw,
Man and Superman, p. 92)

Task
Analyse the following sentences, identify the prepositional objects and the parts of
speech by which they are expressed.
1. “Have you proposed to her?” (G. B. Shaw, Man and Superman, p. 90)
2. “I admit that the formation of a young lady’s mind and character usually consists in
telling her lies; but I object to the particular lie that I am in the habit of abusing the
confidence of girls.” (G. B. Shaw, Man and Superman, p. 95)
3. “I am fighting for my freedom, for my honor, for my self...” (G. B. Shaw, Man and
Superman, p. 209)
4. “I don’t care about money or about what people call position; and I can’t bring myself
to take an interest in the business of struggling for them.” (G. B. Shaw, Man and
Superman, p. 42)
5. “I know a poor wretch whose one desire in life is to run away from his wife.” (G. B.
Shaw, Man and Superman, p. 77)
6. “Many of my relations would object very much to my marrying the grandson of a
common woman…” (G. B. Shaw, Man and Superman, p. 187)
7. “Men, on the other hand, attach penalties to marriage, depriving women of property,
of the franchise, of the free use of their limbs, of that ancient symbol of immortality, the
right to make oneself at home in the house of God by taking off the hat, of everything
that he can force Woman to dispense with without compelling himself to dispense with
her.” (G. B. Shaw, Man and Superman, p. 124)
 8. “The aristocracy (...) had its mind undertrained by silly schoolmasters and governesses,
its character corrupted by gratuitous luxury, its self-respect adulterated to complete
spuriousness by flattery.” (G. B. Shaw, Man and Superman, p. xxiv)
9. “The resolve of every man to be rich at all costs, and of every woman to be married at all
costs, must, without a highly scientific social organization, produce a ruinous
development of poverty, celibacy, prostitution, infant mortality, adult degeneracy, and
everything that wise men most dread.” (G. B. Shaw, Man and Superman, p. xviii)
10. “The whole world is strewn with snares, traps, gins and pitfalls for the capture of men
by women.” (G. B. Shaw, Man and Superman, p. xx)
11. “We are dependent on our motor cars; and our motor cars are dependent on him; so
of course we are dependent on him.” (G. B. Shaw, Man and Superman, p. 185)
12. “You were insatiably curious as to what a boy might be capable of, and diabolically clever
at getting through his guard and surprising his inmost secrets.” (G. B. Shaw, Man and
Superman, p. 71)

7.3. CLASSIFICATION OF DIRECT OBJECTS

From the point of view of their structure, direct objects may be:
1. Simple direct objects are regularly expressed by a simple or complex noun phrase:
E.g. He lifted his sparkling eyes up towards the sky.
2. Coordinated direct objects are two or several nouns or noun-equivalents in the
accusative case connected by conjunctions. (Bantas, 1977: 119)
E.g. The boy was given boots, cigarettes and a herd of cattle.
3. Complex direct objects are expressed by finite and nonfinite clauses.
E.g. I consider 1/ that he is my enemy. 2 /

7.4. COMBINATIONS OF OBJECTS IN COMPLEMENTATION

Alongside combinations based on direct and indirect object patterns, two main
prepositional patterns may be distinguished:
Direct object + prepositional object
Indirect object + prepositional object
The indirect object is normally animate, being the recipient or beneficiary of the process
described by the verb.

7.4.1. Prepositional verbs with two objects

There is an opposition applied both to phrasal and to prepositional verbs, depending on
their possibility of taking or not an object: TYPE I (without Od); TYPE II (with Od).
PHRASAL VERB Please drink up. Please drink it up.
PREPOSITIONAL He invested in property. He invested his money in property.
VERB
Type II prepositional verbs are followed by two noun phrases, normally separated by the
preposition: the former is the direct object, the latter the prepositional object. Three
subtypes may be distinguished:
TYPE IIa: Jenny thanked us for the present.
TYPE IIb: Mary took (good) care of the children.
TYPE IIc: I have lost touch with most of the family.

7.4.3. Phrasal-prepositional verbs with objects

There is a further major category of multi-word verbs which will be called PHRASAL-
PREPOSITIONAL verbs, because they contain, in addition to the lexical verb, both an adverb
and a preposition as particles.
There are three binary contrasts, expressed in the formula:
verb + direct object + adverb + preposition
Adjectives, the same as prepositional verbs, sometimes form a lexical unit with a
following preposition as: good at, fond of, opposed to, etc.
E.g. Their house was different from the Smith’s.

Task
Discriminate the patterns of adjectival complementation in the following sentences:
1. “The peasant I tempt today eats and drinks what was eaten and drunk by the peasants
of ten thousand years ago; and the house he lives in has not altered as much in a
thousand centuries as the fashion of a lady’s bonnet in a score of weeks. But when he
goes out to slay, he carries a marvel of mechanism that lets loose at the touch of his
finger all the hidden molecular energies, and leaves the javelin, the arrow, the blowpipe
of his father’s far behind.” (G. B. Shaw, Man and Superman, p. 145)

7.5. SEMANTIC ROLES OF OBJECTS

1. Affected object
The most typical role of the direct object is that of AFFECTED (PATIENT and OBJECTIVE) participant: a
participant (animate or inanimate) which does not cause the happening denoted by the verb, but is
directly involved in some other way:
E.g. Many MPs criticized the Prime Minister.
James sold his digital watch yesterday.
The indirect object normally takes the role of recipient. It occasionally takes an affected role with
a few of the verbs that combine with an eventive object. The most common verb in the latter
construction is give:
E.g. She gave me a push. ['She pushed me.']
We gave the baby a bath. ['We bathed the baby.']
I should give the car a wash. ['I should wash the car.']
The most typical role of the indirect object is that of RECIPIENT participant (DATIVE): ie of the
animate being that is passively implicated by the happening or state:
 E.g. I've found you a place.
We paid them the money.
2. Resultant object
A resultant (or 'effected’ or ''object of result') object is an object whose referent exists only by
virtue of the activity indicated by the verb:
E.g. Baird invented television.
They are designing a new car.
3. Cognate object
A cognate object is similar to a resultant object in that it refers to an event indicated by the
verb:
E.g. Chris will sing a song for us.
She lived a good life.
The noun head is semantically and often morphologically related to the verb, and its function
is merely to repeat, wholly or partially, the meaning of the verb.
4. Instrumental object
The object may occasionally be instrumental:
E.g. We employ a computer for our calculations.
E.g. She is playing the piano.
Occasionally, the notion of instrument is incorporated into the verb:
E.g. He kicked the ball into the goal. ['He hit the ball with his foot...']
5. Locative object The direct object may have a LOCATIVE role with such verbs as walk, swim, pass,
jump, turn, leave, reach, surround, cross, climb:
E.g. We walked the streets. ['We walked through the streets.']
She swam the river. ['She swam across the river.']
The horse jumped the fence. [The horse jumped over the fence.']
We should include here locative objects after such verbs as occupy and inhabit, where no
preposition can be inserted:
E.g. We occupy a spacious apartment.
6. Eventive object
A frequent type of object generally takes the form of a deverbal noun preceded by a common verb
of general meaning, such as do, give, have, make, take.
The more frequent eventive object can sometimes be related to a cognate object in that it
substitutes for the major lexical meaning of the verb whereas the cognate object repeats the lexical
meaning. Compare:
E.g. They fought for a long time. [verb + adverbial]
They fought a long fight. [verb + cognate object]
They had a long fight. [verb + eventive object]

Task
Identify the semantic roles of objects in the following sentences:
1. She cooked some vegetables.
2. The agency found you a great room with a view to the mountains.
3. The convicts are digging the ground.
4. She dreamed a horrifying dream.
5. Sarah is doing all the housework.
6. She is playing the violin.
7. The horse jumped the fence.
8. They had inhabited the island for over a century.
9. They had an argument.
10. They fought for a long time.
11. They fought a long fight.
12. They had a long fight.
13. We gave the baby a bath.
14. We employ a computer for our calculations.
15. Judith paid me a visit.