Question

What is the indirect object in the following sentence: Please give her a copy of the article by tomorrow morning?

Answer 1

Hint: The recipient of the direct object is the indirect object of a statement. The direct object is the thing that the verb is acting on. Example: Sam passed his father the parcel. Here, the indirect object is Sam’s father.

Complete answer:
The direct object of a verb is given to the indirect object of the verb. In effect, the action passes from the subject to the direct object, then to the indirect object, via the verb.

Example:
Nikunj gave his uncle a dirty look.
"His uncle" is the indirect object in the preceding phrase. "A dirty glance" is the direct object directed towards him.

To find the indirect object, you must first locate the direct object before moving on to the indirect object. By looking for the verb and asking "what?" you can identify the direct object. Ask who or what received the direct item after you've located it. Also, between the verb and the direct object is always the indirect object.

Now, looking at the given sentence,
Because this is a command, there is an implicit subject of "you." "Copy" is the direct object, and "her" is the indirect object.

Note:
- Indirect objects are generally, but not always, humans. This implies that to identify the indirect object, you may need to ask "for or to what?" rather than "for or to whom?"
- A transitive verb is one that accepts a direct object as its subject. There are a few verbs that don't have a direct object. Intransitive verbs are what they're called.