MTEL Communication Literacy Skills : Writing Practice Test

Which of the following represents a direct object in the sentence "She gave him the book"?

1. She

2. Gave

3. Him

4. The book

The correct answer is: The book

In the sentence "She gave him the book," the correct identification of a direct object is "the book." A direct object is a noun or noun phrase that receives the action of the verb directly. In this case, the verb "gave" indicates an action, and the direct object answers the question "what was given?" Here, "the book" is what she gave, clearly making it the recipient of the action of the verb "gave." The other components of the sentence serve different grammatical functions. "She" is the subject of the sentence, performing the action, while "him" is an indirect object that indicates to whom the book was given, not receiving the action directly. "Gave" is the verb itself, explaining the action taking place, but does not represent the direct object. Thus, "the book" is correctly identified as the direct object in this context.