direct (adj.)

A term used in GRAMMATICAL description to refer to one of the two types of OBJECT ELEMENT which can function in CLAUSE STRUCTURE, the other being labelled INDIRECT. The relationship between the two is illustrated by such SENTENCES as The man gave the boy a book, where a book is the direct object (What did the man give?) and the boy is the indirect object. The direct object is the more central in clause structure, indirect objects requiring a direct object to relate to (cf. *The man gave the boy). This distinction is not always recognized in linguistic theories: for example, in GENERATIVE grammar (especially in RELATIONAL GRAMMAR and LEXICAL FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR), the indirect object without to is regarded as a direct object.

The opposition between direct and indirect is also used to identify the two main ways of reflecting a person’s speech: direct speech refers to the use of actual UTTERANCE, with no grammatical MODIFICATION, e.g. ‘Is he coming?’ John asked is a direct question, whereas John asked if he was coming is an indirect question.

In SEMANTICS, direct reference is used for cases where REFERENCE is established independently of SENSE. The term has been applied, for example, in the CAUSAL CHAIN THEORY of PROPER NAMES.