Direct or Indirect Object Worksheets

Related ELA Standard: L.3.1

Core Standard
Answer Keys Here

In English, an object is noun (sometimes a pronoun) that is controlled by a verb or preposition. There are three different types of objects. We will explore two of those types on this page. Indirect objects identify the whom or what the action of verb is being performed on. They are generally prepositional phrases that lack the preposition "to" or "for", but they are understood to be present. They always appear somewhere between the verb and direct object of the sentence. The goal of the indirect object is to modify the verb to make a point. They are often the inheritor of whatever action that is occurring. The direct objects are the whom or what is being acted on within the sentence. The direct form is usually easier to spot, and students often pick that one first. The indirect form normally takes them a little longer to become comfortable with. As with everything, the more practice that they get, the easier it becomes for them. These worksheets have students break down and identify the roles of nouns in sentences.

Direct or Indirect Object Worksheets To Print:

Object Document - Show the action of the act and what it acts upon. You should look for the "what" after the verb. This passage follows the story of Mom's lasagna dinner.

Direct It - Circle the verb and then you have a ton of space for the direct object. Remember that this is thing that is receiving the action.

Where Is The Butter? - You just need to find the direct object. There are some sentences with multiple direct objects connected by a conjugate.

Matching Exercise - This activity puts it all together. Draw a line from the verb to a matching direct object phrase.

Dog's On The Fence - Who would have thought how complex this simple example sentence was?

The Indirect Treehouse - Choose the correct indirect object for each sentence. In all cases there are only three to choose from.

Complex Objects - Read each sentence and write the complex direct object that you see. A complex direct object includes not only the noun, but any other words or phrases that modify the direct object.

Underline It - In the sentences below, underline the verb that shows the action and circle the noun that receives the action.

Same Sentences - Using the same sentences, rewrite each one to include an indirect object. You may reword the sentence but do not take out any information.

How Complex Is It? - Find the complex indirect object in each sentence. You are also trying to include descriptive words to help you with this.

Make It Complex - Rewrite each sentence below, turning the direct object into a complex direct object. Hint: They usually appear after the direct object as a prepositional phrase.

Separate The Sentences - Separate the sentences that are in the first square. All direct objects should be rewritten in the 2nd square and all sentences that contain an indirect object should be in the 3rd section.

Read Each Sentence - Read each sentence and then answer the questions. The questions ask you to breakdown a sentence.

Smile Finds - Identify both the direct and indirect objects. This is a great worksheet to build your lesson off of.

Build-a-Sentence - Notice how we added A to our final noun to close the thought. Each sentence will start with THE and you will choose a noun, a verb from one of the choices listed (you may change the pretence. (ex. show, shows, showing, showed, etc), a second noun or Pronoun and a third to close the thought.

Examples of Nouns as Direct and Indirect Objects


I often find the best way to learn the skill of being ball to determine the nature of an object is to ask yourself two questions: The direct form is located by asking yourself to spot the what or whom part of the sentence. The indirect is established by asking yourself to notice the for whom component of the sentence. This is not a simple skill to learn, but this drastically helps you establish this skill at a much higher rate.


Let's take a look at a few sentences and break them down.


Sample Sentence #1


Mike sold Sarah a deck of cards.


Let's start by looking for the indirect object; this is the receiver of the action. In this sentence the action verb is "sold". So we ask ourselves, "Who are the cards being sold to?" Sarah is the receiver of the cards, so Sarah is the indirect object. The direct object therefore would be what is being sold. So, in this case the deck of cards is the direct object.


Sample Sentence #2


Matthew bought us ice cream cones.


Get it a shot, see if you can determine both of those components.


The indirect is us. This is because that is the being that party that benefits from the action.


The direct is ice cream. This is due to the fact that this is the receiver of the action of buying or purchasing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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