22. In the following sentence, which word is a direct object: The nurse helped the patient with the medication?

Answer: C

Explanation:

The word "patient" is the direct object in the sentence.

In the sentence "The nurse helped the patient with the medication," the word "patient" serves as the direct object, as it receives the action of the verb "helped."

A) helped

The word "helped" is the verb in the sentence, indicating the action performed by the subject, "nurse." It does not function as a direct object since it does not receive the action.

B) nurse

The word "nurse" is the subject of the sentence, performing the action of helping. It is not a direct object, as it does not receive the action of the verb.

C) patient

The word "patient" is the correct answer because it is the direct object in the sentence. It directly receives the action of the verb "helped," indicating who was helped by the nurse.

D) medication

The word "medication" is part of a prepositional phrase "with the medication," which describes the means by which the nurse helped the patient. It is not a direct object, as it does not receive the action of the verb.

Conclusion

The direct object in this sentence is "patient," as it is the recipient of the action performed by the verb "helped." All other options either serve different grammatical functions or do not fulfill the requirement of receiving the action, thereby confirming that "patient" is the only correct choice.