How to identify the object in a sentence?

Question

What is the object in the sentence, "We went down the slope."

The question is unclear. The title asks how to identify it, but the body asks what it is. — Drew, Oct 02 '15 at 17:31

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 02 '15 at 16:15

2

There is no object. The verb "went" is followed by a prepositional phrase "down the slope".

You might think of an analysis where the verb is "went down" and the object is "the slope", but that is wrong here, since we can see that "down the slope" is a constituent (the prepositional phrase) by the fact that it can be preposed:

Down the slope we went.

Only constituents can be preposed, and if "the slope" were a direct object, "down the slope" could not be a constituent.

We can also try moving "down" to the end, which should be possible if "went down" was the verb:

*We went the slope down.

Since that doesn't work, this is further evidence that "the slope" is not the object of a verb "went down".

answered Oct 02 '15 at 16:15

Greg Lee

17,406

1

I agree. The verb 'to go' is intransitive and doesn't require a direct object. You could perhaps say that 'slope' is the indirect object but I think that Greg Lee's explanation is perfectly adequate. – chasly - supports Monica Oct 02 '15 at 16:22
@chasly the patriot: But 'down the slope' is surely an oblique object! – Edwin Ashworth Oct 02 '15 at 16:43
@EdwinAshworth, "down the slope" is a prepositional complement to "went". I suppose you could reasonably call that an oblique object, but I never heard that term used. – Greg Lee Oct 02 '15 at 17:03
'down the slope' ... 'oblique object'? Being serious, some analysts {eg Lingual Links} use this terminology. – Edwin Ashworth Oct 02 '15 at 17:11

score -2 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 02 '15 at 16:11

-2

Actually, it is "the slope", but the verb is "went down".

answered Oct 02 '15 at 16:11

HugMyster

147

I disagree. The verb 'to go down' exists (with a sexual meaning) but this is not it. I agree with Greg Lee. – chasly - supports Monica Oct 02 '15 at 16:20
Not everything in the whole world has sexual links though... but Greg's reasoning makes sense. Is "going up" the slope OK or is that just as dodgy? – HugMyster Oct 02 '15 at 16:25
1

I don't think anyone is suggesting that all verbs have a sexual version - it just happens that this one does. The point about 'to go' and 'to go down' is that that they are both intransitive but the latter is phrasal and has a distinct meaning. I'm not aware of a phrasal verb 'to go up'. I think you are safe with that one! – chasly - supports Monica Oct 02 '15 at 16:35

How to identify the object in a sentence?

2 Answers2