Identify the direct object
Maria watched a deer walk across the street.
Walk
Deer
Deer
The direct object in the sentence is "deer."
The direct object in the sentence "Maria watched a deer walk across the street" is "deer."
To identify the direct object, you can ask yourself the question "What did Maria watch?" In this case, Maria watched "a deer," so "deer" is the direct object. The direct object is the noun or pronoun that receives the action of the verb. In this sentence, the verb is "watched" and "deer" is directly receiving the action of the verb.