How to parse. ...

Par. II8-I20.] TIlE INDIRECT OBJECT.

89

118 Nevertheless, as "Thomas" does (in a certain
sense) answer to the question " whom?" after the
Verb, it is called an Object. But "book" is called
the Direct Object, as it is the first and direct
object of the action; and Thomas is called the
Indirect Object, as being the second object indirectly affected by the action.
Rule.
The Indirect Object of a Verb is the word or
phrase that answers to the question " For, or, to
whom? " " For, or, to what?" when asked after
the Verb and its Direct Object.
II9 There are a few exceptions to this rule. In " lie played
me a trick," "on," not "for," would be supplied before
"me." Also, after "ask," "of" or "from" has to be
supplied: "he asked (of) his sister a question."l
120 N. B. The Indirect Object can easily be detected
as follows: it always comes before the Direct Object,
and cannot be placed after the Direct Object without the insertion of a Preposition, in which case it
ceases to be the Indirect Object of the Verb, and
becomes the Object of the Preposition:(1) "John brought a book for Thomas."
1 Probably in (8) after " ask," the word " sister " may be regarded
as the Direct Object, and ' ask-a-question " as a Compound Verb
having as its Object " sister."