He taught John the lesson.
In this sentence there is a double object.  One can have the sentence "He taught
John" as well as the sentence "He taught the lesson."
In your example, I don't believe
you can have the sentence "Mr. Chorazy assigned the students."  Thus, my conclusion
would be that when students are included in the sentence they are the indirect object.
The other version might be "Two chapters were taught (to) the students."  As the indirect object is often
defined as the nominal following a stated or unstated "to" or "for", this would suggest also that
the students are the indirect object.

tj
________________________________
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of John Chorazy [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2011 8:25 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Transitive Verb

Good morning...  In the following sentence model, which is the direct and the indirect object of the transitive verb? Is reading assigned, or is an implied reader(s) assigned? Funny that I've only today been caused to consider this more closely...


Mr. Chorazy assigned two chapters of reading.


I could reword this numerous ways: Two chapters were assigned for homework; The students were assigned two chapters, etc. Does either change who/what is actually being assigned? Is "to" implied somehow when using this particular verb?



Thank you!




--
John Chorazy
English III Honors and Academic
Pequannock Township High School
973.616.6000

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