In the sentence "The gentleman handed the hostess his hat," the italicized part "hostess" functions as the indirect object, answering the question "To whom did the gentleman hand his hat?" — making it an essential element of the sentence. Here option D is correct.
In the given sentence, "The gentleman handed the hostess his hat," the italicized part "hostess" functions as the indirect object. An indirect object is a noun or pronoun that indicates to whom or for whom the action of the verb is performed.
In this case, the verb is "handed," and the indirect object "hostess" receives the hat. The direct object, on the other hand, is "hat," which is the object being directly acted upon by the verb.
To identify the indirect object, you can ask the question "to whom" or "for whom" after the verb. In this sentence, you can ask, "To whom did the gentleman hand his hat?" The answer is "hostess," making "hostess" the indirect object. Here option D is correct.
Complete question:
Identify the italicized part of the sentence.
The gentleman handed the [hostess] his hat.
A - subject
B - predicate
C - direct object
D - indirect object
E - predicate noun
F - predicate adjective