In the sentence: Maria goes to piano class every week. Is 'piano class' the object of the sentence?

Question

My teacher told me 'piano class' is not an object in this sentence. Can someone explain to me why? Doesn't 'piano class' answer the question what does Maria go to every week, therefore making it the object of the sentence?

Answer 1

"piano class" is the object of a preposition, that is, it's the most important noun in the prepositional phrase "to piano class"
"maria" is the subject
"goes" is the verb
"to piano class" prepositional phrase/adverbial
"every week" adverbial of time

Answer 2

The verb "to go" doesnt take objekts, it is a non transitive verb (or something like that). The meaning is that the act, the energy of the verb does not pass (transit) to an objekt, while to have an objekt this is necessary. Example :A) i close the door. Door= direct objekt. The door is directly affected by my action. B) To give the boy a candy. Here are two objekts, a direct and an indirect. Still, both the boys and the candys situation have changed through my giving. The candys directly, through my act and the boys indirectly, through the candy.
The verb go and some other similar verbs cannot produce that effect. "Piano lesson" is merely a local adverbial, an adjunct, the piano lesson doesnt change in anyway, it is not affected by Maria. She merely goes there. And therefore it needs a preposition, "to".
Easy general rule: Words or phrases that answer the questions "Where?" When?" and "How?" are adverbs or adverbial phrases. Don't look for objekts there.
The subjekts anwers the question "who?" or "what?" (if its a thing and not a person) and the objekt answers the question "what?" or "whom?".
That's the best i can explain it, i dont remember the all the right words from english grammar but i remember the function very well, it's the same in all the languages i speak.

Answer 3

The syntax of English is subject verb object but not all sentences require an object for example I am giving you the answer to this question sub: I verb: am giving obj (there are two objects one direct and one indirect. it is a matter of who or what preforms the action of the verb and who or what receives that action. So in I give you... you receive the action makes you indirect object and what you receive is what preforms the action of the verb and that is an answer in our example above. Now let's say that you gave Maria a piano. that would be Maria, indirect obj and piano direct object. But in Maria goes to the piano. The subject hee is actually preforming the action of the verb. do you see that? And, in this case to the piano is a preposition phrase as i am sure that everyone has told you. Piano in this case is the object of the preposition to and what do we say it does in this sentence? At first glance i would say it tells us where Maria goes, and I think that I would stick with that. I would say that to the piano is a prepositonal phrase acting as a adverb would. or just as an adverb. I have plenty of little books that tell what English parts of speech are and what they do. I don't even care to look and see if I am right or not. But, I feel that you should get yourself one of these little books. I wasn't going to confuse you with transitive and intransitive verbs. I knew about those. But, just get yourself a little book and learn all the parts of speech and to recognize them in sentences. And, then to know what they modify in the case of adjectives and adverbs. then you can get on to more important things like objects of sentences and transitive and intransitive verbs. Because if you don't know the basics the more complicated stuff is just going to confuse you.

Answer 4

Thepenismighter is right, "piano class" is the object not of the verb but of the preposition "to".

I don't think of "sentences" as having objects, I would say verbs and prepositions do. But not all verbs do, and go is intransitive in your sentence (meaning it doesn't have an object). The object of a verb must answer a question like "what does Maria go?" which doesn't make sense. "What does Maria EAT?" makes sense, and in the answer "Maria eats cake", "cake" is the object.

Answer 5

The simple answer is that only transitive verbs have a direct object. 'To go' is intransitive and therefore has no direct object. Compare 'Maria hits [transitive verb] the piano...' - here, 'piano' is the direct object of the verb 'to hit'; but you cannot say 'Maria goes [intrans. verb] the piano.'

Where does Maria go? To piano class - an adverbial phrase.

Answer 6

This is an interesting sentence because it does not contain a definite or indefinite article, the article is assumed before 'piano class'. Strictly speaking 'class' is the object and 'piano' an adjective; for example, John (subject) drives (verb) the/a (definite/indefinite article) red (adjective) car (object).
I need to get out more.

Answer 7

'piano class' in this sentence would be the object of the preposition since it's part of the prepositional phrase... prepositional phrases are phrases that start with prepositions like for, by, to (such as it is in this sentence), etc.

the object of the preposition on the other hand is the noun that the preposition refers to...

i hope that helps...

Answer 8

It appears in a prepositional phrase (starting with "to"), making it an object of preposition.

Your sentence has no object.

Example of object: "He drives a car". Car is the object here.

Answer 9

Maria is the object.
The way to check is to to look at the verb; goes.

Then you ask; who goes?
Maria goes.

She is the object.

Maria answers the question who goes. The scentence is clearly speaking about Maria's doings and not about piano class.
I hope clear.

Answer 10

Yes, indeed it is!!!!! :)