you may need to say who or what was directly affected by the action.
in this Example below 'The child stroked the cat' 'the cat' was the thing acted upon or affected by the action. we say that the cat is the direct object of the verb 'stroked'.
Not all verbs need direct object. if a verb takes a direct object we call it 'transitive' verb. if it does not take a direct object, we say the verb is 'intransitive'. some verbs May act sometimes as transitive verbs, and at other times May be intransitive. If you look in your dictionary you may find this indicated. In some dictionaries v. i and v. t written after the verb meaning that the verb can be used either transitively or intransitively, that is, with or without a direct object.
Example:
(i) The referee blew the whistle.
The verb 'blew' governs the direct object 'the whistle'; 'blew' is therefore transitive.
(i) The whistle blew.
Here the verb 'blew' does not have a direct object. it is therefore being used intransitively.
Exercise:
supply a direct object for the verb to fill the blank in each of these sentences.
(a) He is studying ....... at the university.
(b) The hunter carried the ....... over his shoulder.
(c) Eric's father drives a .........
(d) Poor students should never waste ............
(e) This pay-rise doesn't affect. ..........
Here is the Answers of my previous Exercise
(a) People
(b) children
(c) Japan
(d) friend
(e)James
thanks