Verbs & Their Objects

Summary
Two kids playing soccer explain what parts of a sentence tell you more about how a verb works, as well as what can receive the action of a verb.

Transcript
(Two kids named Aisha and Andy are playing soccer. Andy is the goalie)

Aisha: Ready, Andy?

(Aisha kicks the ball, but Andy doesn't stop it from going into the net)

Andy: Well, are you going to kick it?

Aisha: I already kicked it!

Caption: Verbs & Their Objects

Narrator: Today, Aisha and Andy are going to explain verbs and their objects.

Aisha: Let's start with action verbs. An action verb is just what it sounds like. It describes an action.

(Aisha sets down the ball and gives it a kick)

Aisha: In the sentence, "Aisha kicks the ball", "kicks" is the action verb.

(Aisha picks up the ball)

Aisha: Action verbs cover mental actions, too, like "I'm thinking about kicking this ball." There are two action verbs in this sentence: "thinking" and "kicking".

Andy: Verbs don't always live by themselves. A verb in a sentence has objects that tell you more about how the action is performed. A direct object is the noun or pronoun that receives the action of the verb.

Aisha: For example, look at the sentence, "Aisha kicks Andy the ball." Once again, "kicks" is our verb. To find the direct object, we ask the question, "What was the verb done to?" Our question is, "What was kicked?" The answer is the ball. The ball was kicked. "Ball" is our direct object.

Andy: An indirect object is the noun or pronoun that receives the direct object. Now that we know the direct object, that's easy to figure out. We ask, "Who was the ball kicked to?"

Aisha: The answer is Andy. The ball was kicked to Andy. "Andy" is our indirect object.

(Aisha kicks the ball to Andy, but Andy doesn't catch it)

Aisha: Aw, come on, I kicked that one right to you.

Andy: But I didn't see it coming.

Aisha: Anyway, let's try another sentence.

(Andy picks up the ball and starts squeezing it)

Aisha: "Andy gives the ball a squeeze." "Gives" is our action verb. To find the direct object, we ask, "What is the recipient of the action?" What did Andy give? He gave a squeeze - so "squeeze" is our direct object. To find the indirect object, we ask, "What is the recipient of the direct object?" What did Andy give a squeeze to? The ball. He gave the ball a squeeze, and "ball" is our indirect object.

(Suddenly, Andy squeezes the ball a little too hard and it pops)

Andy: Oops!

Aisha: Huh. This just isn't your game, is it?

Andy: To tell you the truth, I'm not a good soccer player.

(Andy puts the remains of the ball over his head like a mask)

Aisha: (sighs) I swear I will never understand that boy.