Question

Which personal pronoun correctly completes the sentence? What is its use?

With great pride, Elizabeth showed __________ her book of short stories.

A them; direct object

B they; indirect object

C them; indirect object

D they; direct object

Answer 1

It is not b nor d.

Answer 2

It is A

Direct object is a noun or pronoun that receives the action of a transitive verb or shows the result of the action. For example: Jeremy fed the dog. The direct object is 'the dog' and the transitive verb is 'fed'.

When pronouns function as direct objects, they customarily take the form of the objective case. The objective forms of English pronouns are me, us, you, him, her, it, them, whom and whomever. For example: He saw it. The pronoun 'it' is the direct object of the verb 'saw'.

Answer 3

It is actually C. If you were to rearrange the sentence to say "With great pride, Elizabeth showed her book of short stories to them." It's the same sentence but now it is obvious that "book" is the direct object.The indirect object of a sentence is the recipient of the direct object.
Elizabeth showed what? She showed the book. Who did she show the book to? To them.