Objects are elements that refer to participants distinct from the subject of the sentence. The verb smash allows for two participants to be referred to (i.e. it is a ‘two-place’ verb; see p. 46); it refers to somebody that does the smashing and a thing that gets smashed. We can say, therefore, that smash (at least as it occurs in the context John smashed the windscreen) is a transitive verb, and that this sentence is a transitive sentence; i.e. the ‘process’ of smashing carries across from one participant in the event, the subject John, to another, the windscreen. The situation referred to is one in which two separate participants are involved. By definition, a transitive sentence contains an object as one of its elements. The following are further examples of transitive sentences, and the objects are in italics: Somebody has translated the poem Those headlines deceived the public Jack built a fine house Here is a formal test for identifying an object: we can tell that the italicized elements are objects because we can single them out for use as the subject of a passive sentence that has the same meaning. This process is illustrated below (see also p. 44 and p. 81 for the term passive): Somebody has translated the poem, so it follows that: The poem has been translated by somebody. Those headlines deceived the public, so it follows that: The public was deceived by those headlines. Jack built a fine house, so it follows that: A fine house was built by Jack. If there is a sentence of the type The poem has been translated by somebody corresponding to a sentence in which the poem is complement to the verb translate, then that complement is an object. (Exercises 1 and 2 are on pp. 86–7.) In the sentence John hates himself we have the verb hate, which is a two-place verb requiring one who hates and something or someone that is hated. It is possible for the hater and the hated to be the same, but in that case the object has to be a reflexive form such as himself, herself, myself, etc. Here are some further examples of
reflexive objects: