Cover Page of
The Mayfield Handbook of Technical & Scientific Writing
Table of ContentsWriting TimelineIndexHelpCredits

Section 12.3

Objects

The object of a verb is the noun, pronoun or other noun substitute that receives the results of the action referred to by the verb. Objects of verbs may be either direct objects or indirect objects. Prepositions also have objects.

Verbs that take direct objects are termed transitive verbs. In general, do not allow any words to separate the verb and its direct object. Indirect objects, however, are often an exception.


Weak

The Everglades Coalition promoted tirelessly an effort to save the area's unique biological capital.

Improved

The Everglades Coalition tirelessly promoted an effort to save the area's unique biological capital.

--Norman Boucher, "Back to the Everglades," Technology Review


You can change a sentence from active voice to passive voice by making the object of the active verb (direct object or indirect object) the subject of the passive verb and adding a form of the passive auxiliary be to the verb phrase.


Active

J. Robert Oppenheimer gave the first comprehensive description of a neutron star in 1939, shortly before he began working on the first atomic bomb.

Passive

The first comprehensive description of a neutron star was given by J. Robert Oppenheimer in 1939, shortly before he began working on the first atomic bomb.

--William J. Kaufmann, "The Black Hole"


Reference Link Text
## Objects ##
Reference Link Text

[ Home | Table of Contents | Writing Timeline | Index | Help | Credits]