+407.+ You will note that all of these verbs which we have used in these
sentences have been complete verbs as _hang_, _grow_, _runs_, _fade_,
etc. A complete verb, you will remember, is a verb that does not need an
object or a complement. It is complete within itself. It may be modified
by an adverb or an adverb phrase, but when you leave off these modifiers
you still have complete sense.
In any of the sentences above you may cross out the adverb or the adverb
phrase which modifies the verb and you will still have complete
sentences. For example:
Great clouds of smoke float in the air.
Here, the adverb phrase, _in the air_, may be omitted and still we have
complete sense, thus:
Great clouds of smoke float.
+408.+ The incomplete verbs, however, require either an object or
complement to complete their meaning.
Incomplete verbs are of two kinds; those that express _action_ and those
that express _state_ or _condition_.
An incomplete verb that expresses action requires an object which is the
receiver of the action expressed in the verb, so we have another element
which enters into the simple sentence, when we use an incomplete verb.
For example:
The busy man makes shoes.
In order to complete the sentence, we must use an object with the
incomplete verb _makes_. To say, _The busy man makes_, is not enough. We
must have an object which is the receiver of the action expressed in the
verb, _makes_. Verbs of action often have two objects. One object names
the _thing_ that _receives_ the action and the other names the _thing_
indirectly _affected_ by the action. For example:
The tailor made him a coat.
+409.+ _Coat_ is the _direct_ object of the verb _made_. But we have
another object in the pronoun _him_. We do not mean that the tailor made
_him_, but that the tailor made him a _coat_. _Coat_ is the direct
object and _him_ is the indirect object. The indirect object is always
placed before the direct object. The indirect object may be used as the
object of the preposition _to_ or _for_. As for example, this sentence
might be rewritten to read, _The tailor made a coat for him_. In this
sentence, _him_ is not the indirect object of the verb, but is the
object of the preposition _for_.
+410.+ The direct object of the verb always answers the question _what?_
As for example, the tailor made _what?_--_a coat_. The indirect object
of the verb names the person or thing _to_ or _for_ which the act is
done,--_the tailor made a coat for whom?_--for _him_.
The direct and indirect object become a part of the complete predicate
of the sentence. There may be other modifiers also, as adverbs or adverb
phrases, and all of these taken together form the complete predicate in
the sentences where you have used an incomplete verb. As for example:
The tailor gladly made him a coat for the occasion.
The complete predicate is, _gladly made him a coat for the occasion_,
formed of the verb _made_, the direct object, _coat_, the indirect
object _him_, the adverb modifier, _gladly_, and the phrase modifier,
_for the occasion_.