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A verb may be followed by an object that completes the verb's meaning. Two kinds of objects follow verbs: direct objects and indirect objects. To determine if a verb has a direct object, isolate the verb and make it into a question by placing "whom?" or "what?" after it. The answer, if there is one, is the direct object:
Direct Object
The advertising executive drove a flashy red Porsche.
Her secret admirer gave her a bouquet of flowers.
The second sentence above also contains an indirect object. An indirect object (which, like a direct object, is always a noun or pronoun) is, in a sense, the recipient of the direct object. To determine if a verb has an indirect object, isolate the verb and ask to whom?, to what?, for whom?, or for what? after it. The answer is the indirect object.
Not all sentences have to have an object. Sentences can be classified into two types: transitive and intransitive. Transitive sentences require an object to complete the sentence's meaning, while intransitive sentences do not have an object. Consider the verbs in the following sentences:
The guest speaker rose from her chair to protest.
After work, Randy usually jogs around the canal.
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