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==Identification== A number of criteria can be employed for identifying objects, e.g.:<ref>See Biber et al. (1999:126) for a similar list of characteristics that identify (direct) objects.</ref> # Subject of passive sentence: Most objects in active sentences can become the subject in the corresponding passive sentences.<ref>Concerning the passive as a diagnostic for identifying objects, see for instance Freeborn (1995:175) and Biber et al. (1999:126).</ref> # Position occupied: In languages with strict [[word order]], the subject and the object tend to occupy set positions in unmarked declarative clauses. # Morphological case: In languages that have case systems, objects are marked by certain cases (accusative, dative, genitive, instrumental, etc.). Languages vary significantly with respect to these criteria. The first criterion identifies objects reliably most of the time in English, e.g. * Fred gave me a book. * A book was given (to) me.<small>—Passive sentence identifies ''a book'' as an object in the starting sentence.</small> * I was given a book.<small>—Passive sentence identifies ''me'' as an object in the starting sentence.</small> The second criterion is also a reliable criterion for [[analytic language]]s such as English, since the relatively strict word order of English usually positions the object after the verb(s) in declarative sentences. In the majority of languages with fixed word order, the subject precedes the object. However, the opposite is true for the very small proportion (approximately 2.9%) of the world's languages that utilize [[object–subject word order]] by default.<ref name=Dryer2013Chap81>{{cite book |last1=Dryer |first1=Matthew S.|author-link=Matthew Dryer |year=2013 |chapter=Order of Subject, Object and Verb |editor1-last=Dryer |editor1-first=Matthew S. |editor2-last=Haspelmath |editor2-first=Martin |title=The World Atlas of Language Structures Online |location=Leipzig |publisher=Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology |chapter-url=http://wals.info/chapter/81 }}</ref>
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