Read the sentence. in 1981, the national aeronautics and space administration built the country its first space shuttle.

how does the word country function in this sentence?

object of a preposition

direct object

indirect object

subject

indirect object

The object in a sentence is the element that gives meaning to the action that the subject performs. It is always present in the case of sentences with transitive verbs (verbs that require an object).

"Mark closed the door for me"  Mark (Subject) + closed (Verb) + the door (object)

"Mark closed"  close is a transitive verb, it needs the object to make full sense.

Knowing this, we have the direct object and indirect object

Direct object: gives an answer to the question of "who, whom, or what". It is the direct receiver of the action performed by the subject.

"What did Mark close? The door"

Indirect object: answers the question "to whom, to what" or "for whom, for what" the action is performed. It is the receiver of the direct object. There can't be an indirect object without a direct object.

"For whom did Mark close the door? For me"

To close the idea, we can ask these questions to the sentence in the excercise:

"What did the National Aeronautics and Space Administration build?" its first space shuttle. (Direct Object)

"To what did The National Aeronautics and Space Administration build its first space shuttle?" to the country. (Indirect Object)

can you add the article