Guide to Direct Objects

Many sentences in English require a subject, a verb, and a direct object (DO). A direct object is a noun, a noun phrase or a pronoun that comes after the verb. The direct object answers the question "what?" or "who?"

Here is an example:

Here is another one:

Different Kinds of Nouns That Can Be Used as Direct Objects

• Singular Count Noun

  a dog, a cat, a book, a puzzle, a student, a place, one place ...

   

  Bob wants a new car. s v n (DO)

   

• Plural Count Nouns

  two dogs, a few cats, several books, a lot of puzzles, many students, several places...

   

  Bob loves books. s v n (DO)

   

• Non-Count Nouns (nouns that don't add -s and don't use "a")

  air, traffic, insurance, equipment, jewelry, cosmetics, soup, water, intelligence, independence ... You can use your dictionary to tell if a noun is non-count.

   

  I hate traffic. s v n (DO)

   

• Gerunds verb+ing (verbs that act as nouns)

  playing, sleeping, boating, hiking, swimming, going, travelling, reading, enjoying, working, living ...

   

  I love playing chess. I love working in HMB. s v n (DO) s v n (DO)

  Don't confuse this with present continuous verb tense.
  I am going home now. You are sleeping now. We are working today.

   

• Infinitives to+verb

  to swim, to eat, to go, to live, to know, to understand...

   

  I like to swim. I love to drink coffee. s v n (DO) s v n (DO)

Some verbs can only use nouns or gerunds (verbing) as the direct object:

enjoy, finish, quit, stop, keep, discuss, practice

You can use your dictionary to tell if a verb needs a gerund.

Some verbs can only use nouns or infinitives to show the direct object:

want, need, learn, play, try

Some verbs can use either a noun, a noun phrase, a gerund, or an infinitive:

like, hate, love, start, begin, continue

Use your dictionary if you can't remember if a noun is count or non-count or if a verb ends in -ing (gerund) or if "to" (infinitive) is added.