Object (grammar)

Object (grammar)

An object in grammar is part of a sentence, and often part of the predicate. It denotes somebody or something involved in the subject's "performance" of the verb. Basically, it is what or whom the verb is acting upon. As an example, the following sentence is given:

In the sentence "Bobby scored a goal", "a goal" is the object.

"Bobby" is the subject (the agent, doer, or performer of the action), "score" is the action, and "goal" is the object (what or whom the action of the verb is acting upon). The verb in the clause determines whether there can or must be objects in the sentence, and if so how many and of what type. (See also Valency (linguistics).) In many languages, including English, the same verb can allow different structures: "Bobby scored" and "Bobby scored a goal" are both valid English sentences. Note that the meaning of the verb can be affected by the presence or absence of an object.