Differentiate Direct Complement from Indirect

When parsing a sentence, it is important to learn to differentiate the direct object from the indirect object, two complements that accompany the verb but that provide different information. In this lesson from a PROFESSOR we are going to discover the main differences between CD and IC so that, thus, you can learn to differentiate them clearly; Besides, we will also give you tricks that will help you identify them and we will finish the lesson a printable exercise with solutions so that you can put into practice everything we have learned.

Before starting to differentiate the direct object from the indirect object, it is important that let us know well what each of these verbal complements consists of in order to better understand the theory. The Direct Object and the Indirect Object give us concrete information about the verbal action and here we discover it for you.

Definition of Direct Complement

We start knowing what is the Direct Complement in order to be able to recognize it more easily within the sentence that we want to analyze. The CD refers to the person, animal or object that

receive the action which is being explained in the sentence. It does not have to agree with number and person with the verb and can be preceded by the preposition "a". What OD does is specify the action of the verb and define its meaning; for example, the phrase Juan buys It is a very broad sentence, but if we add a CD to it it becomes more concrete: Juan buy water.

Direct Plugin Examples:

• Laura has a house.
• Rafael holds the table.
• Laura buys a painting.

Indirect Complement Definition

Now we are going to know what is the Indirect Complement in order to better understand its meaning and learn to parse it syntactically. We speak of CI when we refer to the person, object or animal that benefits from the action of the verb. The IC will always benefit or suffer from the action and can be accompanied by "a" or "para". The information that this verbal complement gives us is who has affected or benefited the action, it delimits this information and gives us a more concrete meaning. For example, in the phrase I have written a letter, if we add the CI it is delimited more: I have written a letter to my boyfriend.

Indirect Complement Examples:

• I have seen my mother.
• Yesterday I gave my sister a bike.
• I opened the door for my neighbor.

Now that we know the theory, we are going to know how to differentiate the direct object from the indirect object. To do this, we will attend to the main differences between both verb complements that will help us to determine the nature of the sentence that we have to analyze:

• The direct complement is the one on which the action of the verb falls directly, on the other hand, the indirect compliment It is the one that falls to him in a secondary or indirect way.
• The direct object may or may not be preceded by the preposition a while the indirect object will always be preceded by the preposition "a" or "para"
• The direct object can be substituted for the pronouns it / the / the and the indirect complement by him / them.
• The direct object when passing the sentence to passive becomes Subject of prayer, on the other hand, the indirect compliment does not modify your syntactic function.

In some cases the direct and the indirect complement can be confused with each other but if you take into account all the previous instructions there will be no room for doubt.

We finish this lesson so that you can know how to differentiate the direct object from the indirect object by talking about the tricks that you can perform when you have doubts. Here are some relevant aspects that will help you clearly identify each of these add-ons:

• The CDnot it is usually accompanied by preposition; if it does, it only allows the "a".
• The CIYes that usually goes next to a preposition and can be "to" and "to".
• Ask the verb: what? or who? If the answer can be solved with what? we are before a CD, if it is with the question of whom? we are before an IC.

In fact, one of the most common tricks used to differentiate the Direct from the Indirect Object is to ask the verb. For example: Yesterday I gave my sister a bike: What did I give? A bike (CD). Who did I give it to? To my sister (CI).

In order to practice what I have learned in this video, I have prepared some printable exercises with their solutions so that you can check that you have perfectly understood how differentiate the direct object from the indirect object.