Direct Object? Indirect Object? Predicate Nominative?

[Bick]

Anyways D= Not sure how long I'm on.

In English they give us a ton of things to make sure we can read/write well. I suppose. Anyways. So I get to one section and I just got frustrated with it. I took notes, well written ones but when it came to the test, I bombed it. I had to do it about 5 times before I actually got it all right. That doesn't mean I understand it though.

So here it is:

Direct object, Indirect object and predicate nominative. T.T I got totally lost in that.

[Bick]

Putting down the examples too.

D.O= The ball hit the player.

I.D=They mailed the dissatisified customer a letter,

P.N= Jasmine Brown is my friend.

I mean I get it to an extent, but when it comes to major long questions in the test I get frazzled and I'm like... what?

[adamant]

"They mailed the dissatisfied customer a letter."

The direct object: letter
(directly affected by the verb, it was mailed)

The indirect object: customer
(indirectly affected, because he received the action)

The nominal predicate: N/A
The adjectival predicate: dissatisfied

The subject: They

...or I think that's how it goes

Predicative (adjectival or nominal) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predicative_%28adjectival_or_nominal%29)
Object (grammar) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_%28grammar%29)

[wordwizard]

I am so glad I am no longer in school
*shudders at school work memories*

[Eoz Eanj]

I’m glad that it’s already an expectation that we understand the functions of a basic sentence at my school, no irritating aptitude tests for me, just continuous assignments, in class assessments and oral presentations.

[Bick]

My mum attempted to show me x) Though she was half awake when she got back from work.

The Predicate Nom. is like... O.o Lemme just give an example.

Like in Jasmine Brown is my friend. Who is the friend? Jasmine is. It's like another word for the subject? I guess O.o

Then D.O is what is affected directly by the verb and is always found shortly after it.

Then I.O. Is to who the action is directly done to...

Right. As I type that out, I just confused myself on how I.O and D.O are even different xD This is gonna turn out fun on the section test.

[xxkozxx]

Man I would have to dig into the cob webs for that one, LOL.

[Cogito]

Then D.O is what is affected directly by the verb and is always found shortly after it.


The last part of this is misleading. Let me take of adamant's examples and decorate it a bit:

They mailed the dissatisified customer with the cheesy suit, bad hair, and worse attitude a letter.

As we have established, the subject is They, and the verb is mailed.

The verb mailed is a transitive verb, meaning it needs adirect object to complete it, so:

They mailed.

is an incomplete sentence.

So what noun or pronoun completes the sentence? We have several candidates:
customer
suit
hair
attitude
letter

Well, we can eliminate suit, hair, and attitude, because they are simply components of the prepositional phrase:

with the cheesy suit, bad hair, and worse attitude

As we've already seen, the semtence is complete with that phrase completely removed.

That leaves us with customer or letter. Which one answers the question, "What did they mail?"

They mailed the customer.
or
They mailed a letter.

Even though it is the furthest noun from the verb in this sentence, the letter is the correct answer for the direct object (the article the is part of the direct object - it need not be a single noun or pronoun).

So what is the customer? That would be the indirect object. The indirect object is not a structurally necessary part of the sentence, but semantically (which means for the meaning) it provides important information. The indirect object could have been expressed in a prepositional phrase instead of an indirect object, without changing the meaning:

They mailed a letter to the customer.

Hopefully that clarifies direct vs. indirect object.

As for a predicate noun, in verbs like is and was, the nouns or pronouns associated with the verb are logically interchangeable. The one which appears first is still called the subject, but the other is not an object; it is a predicate noun or pronoun, and in strict usage uses the same form as a subject. So when you ask who is knocking at the door, the person on the other side would answer:

It is I. (formally preferred)
although
It is me. is increasingly considered acceptable.

For more on predicate nominatives see:
http://grammar.uoregon.edu/nouns/predicateN.html and http://www.bartelby.com/68/25/4725.html

(I'll probably move this thread to Writing Issues - SPAG in a couple days)

[Bick]

thank you so much cogito! I get it now. Do you mind if I print this out? Take it to school? Would make life easier x)

-pokes avatar- I'm drawing that at the moment. Drawing my two favorite creatures together in one draw. The tomato Hornworm, or as I call it the horny toe. And the kiwi or as I call em, stubby.

[adamant]

...and I'm chopped liver, eh?

[Bick]

Omg, I'm sorry Adament. Thank you so much too! -bighugs-

[adamant]

*pouts, but in an innocent way so that she feels bad* whatever.

[Bick]

Aws. -sends you some coffee and cake digitally-

[Torana]

I am so glad I am no longer in school
*shudders at school work memories*

I am so with you on that one wordwizard! lol :p And admant and Cogito you hurt my head!!!!

[SnipSnap]

Bah. I knew this, and cog got here first. Meh ... I'll beat you to another grammar question!

[mammamaia]

what's a 'tennet'? [was it a typo for 'tenet'?... but that couldn't be 'taciturn' so i'm still confoozed'