Direct Objects and Indirect Objects Differences - Basic English Grammar

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Hi, everybody.

Welcome back to Ask Alisha, the weekly series where you ask me questions and I answer them,

maybe.

First question this week comes from Sajun.

Hi, Sajun.

Sajun says, “Hi Alisha.

What does it mean ‘damn it’ and ‘nailed it?’

I've seen this several times in Hollywood movies.”

“Damn it” is a curse word that we use when we make a mistake or when something goes

wrong.

“I deleted the wrong file?

Damn it!”

“I hit my head on a cabinet.

Damn it!”

“I forgot my keys?

Damn it!”

“Nailed it,” however, it means that we did something perfectly.

We did something really, really well.

It's kind of a celebratory phrase.

This is also a really casual expression.

“I throw a basketball perfectly through a basketball hoop.

Nailed it!”

“Your coworker does a great job on her presentation.

Nailed it!”

“Your best friend cooks something perfectly.

Nailed it!”

Thanks for the question.

Next question.

Next question comes from Ashraf.

Hi, Ashraf.

“Do we say ‘who invented the internet’ or ‘who discovered the internet?’”

Yeah, we would say “invented.”

Why?

Because generally, when we use the word “discovered,” we're using it for things that already existed.

Meaning, maybe we didn't have to create that thing.

So, this is for like natural things.

So, like plants or animals, continents, for example.

Things that already existed.

We can say, “I discovered that thing.”

“He discovered a new species,” “She discovered an island,” “They discovered

the cure.”

So, then, we use “invented,” on the other hand, for things like machines.

So, something that we had to create.

It didn't exist before but maybe we put it together or we created something new, that's

when we use the word, “invent.”

“Look, I invented a new machine.”

“Elon Musk wants to invent new methods of travel.”

“She invented an amazing robot.”

So, I hope that helps a little bit, the difference between “discover” and “invent.”

Thanks for the question.

Next question comes from Mark.

Hi, Mark.

“Hi, Alisha.

I have two important questions.”

Let's look at number one first.

“Number one, when do I use ‘too,’ ‘as well,’ ‘also’ or ‘either?’

What's the difference?”

Okay, “as well” and “also” sound more formal.

I would say, in American speech, we tend to use “also” more at the beginning of a

phrase or at the beginning of a clause and “as well’ might come at the end of the

clause.

It's not a rule, not a rule, just tends to, at least in the way that I use these words.

“Too” is the one that I use most commonly in everyday speech.

“Either,” there are a few different uses of “either” so I'm going to guess it which

one you mean.

But, I'm guessing you mean like, “me either” or “me neither,” which means not me also,

not me, so that's like a negative.

So, “me either” and “me neither,” actually, both are used to express also not

me.

Hope that helps.

Okay, let's go to your second question.

Your second question was, “When do I use ‘answer,’ ‘reply’ or ‘response?’

What's the difference?”

When we're sending and receiving communication really, they are the same.

“Response” tends to sound more formal than the others.

“Answer” also implies that there's a question asked.

So, we can use “answer,” for example, for tests, for police interrogations, for

investigations.

When a question or an inquiry is given to someone, we could say, “Give me your answer,”

or, “Please answer me,” or something like that.

In general, “reply” is kind of the most neutral, the kind of maybe most basic one.

“Response” is going to sound a little bit more formal than “reply.”

Alright, next question.

Next question comes from Seha.

Hi, Seha.

“What is a ‘direct object’ and an ‘indirect object?’”

Okay.

So, an indirect object is the person receiving the direct object.

So, that means that you must have a direct object in your sentence to have an indirect

object.

You cannot have an indirect object without a direct object.

So, let's look at some examples.

I’ll break it down.

“I set my dad a picture from the beach.”

So, here, the verb is “sent.”

So, what is the object that I sent?

What is the object of the verb?

In this case, it's a picture.

So, “a picture” is my direct object.

So, who is receiving the picture?

My dad.

That means “my dad” is the indirect object here.

So, my verb, “sent,” the thing that is affected by the verb is “the picture.”

The person receiving the picture is my dad, therefore, “my dad” is the indirect object

here.

Let's look at one more example sentence here.

“He cooked a roast chicken for his girlfriend.”

So, here the verb is “cooked,” past tense, “cook.”

What's the thing that got cooked?

What's the thing that was affected by the cooking?

It's “chicken,” “roast chicken,” to be specific, but “a chicken.”

So, who is the person who received the roast chicken?

His girlfriend.

So, “chicken” is the direct object.

The person who received the direct object is the indirect object, in this case, his

“girlfriend.”

So, you need to have a direct object in order to have an indirect object.

I hope that helps.

Thanks for the question.

Next question comes from Azad O’ Myer, Hi, Azad.

Azad says, “Which one is correct?

‘Why are you not talking with me?’ or, “Why are you not talking with me?’”

Actually, we would say, “Why aren't you talking to me?”

We use the contracted form there.

I know it seems strange, “Why are not you talking to me?”

This is, apparently, I did a little bit of research into it and it's kind of an older

pattern of speaking.

But, we'll actually use this contracted form.

We don't use, “Why are not you speaking to me?”

We use, “Why aren't you?”

“Why aren't you doing this?”

“Why aren't you doing that?”

“Why aren't you sleeping?”

“Why aren't you working?”

“Why aren't you helping her?”

So, I would recommend, “Why aren't you blah, blah, blah?” to ask this question to your

friend.

Next question.

Next question comes from Jack.

Jack says, “What does ‘grammatically’ mean?

Does it mean sentence structure or sentence meaning?

Thanks.”

“Grammatically” relates to sentence structure.

So, if something is “grammatical,” it means it follows the rules of a language.

If something is “not grammatical,” it means it does not follow the rules of a language

in terms of sentence structure.

So, we can actually have effective communication in sentences that are not grammatically correct.

Meaning, the sentence may not follow the rules of the language but we can still communicate

effectively.

Hope that helped.

You can check a dictionary for more information.

Great.

So, those are all the questions that I want to answer for this week's episode.

Thank you very much for sending your questions, as always.

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Thanks very much for watching this episode of Ask Alisha and I'll see you again next week.

Bye-bye.