How can direct objects be taught?
“Direct object” labels a grammatical category established by ancient Greek and Roman grammarians as they observed the properties of “actions.” Actions are performed by the “doer” of the action, labeled by the grammatical category “subject.” The “subject” could be a person (John came), an animal (The lion roared), a thing (The pencil fell), or an abstraction (Liberty requires responsibility). Grammarians observed long ago that certain actions can be performed by a doer: John comes every day in the mornings. Other actions must be performed by a doer and must include something else to be performed. For example: to throw. A doer or subject must throw and s(he) must throw something for the action to take place. If nothing is thrown, then the action just does not occur. One cannot “throw” nothing! The grammatical category “direct object” labels this “something” or “someone” that must be involved in the action for the action to take place.