The teacher gave () the new books.

The teacher gave () the new books.

• A. Us
• B. Me
• C. Them
• D. You

Answer: (A)

In this sentence, the action of giving involves two objects: the thing given (the new books) and the recipient. The recipient is written in the pronoun’s object form, because English uses the indirect object in the object case after verbs like give. The group receiving the books includes the speaker, so the correct pronoun is us. So the sentence reads: The teacher gave us the new books. Using me would imply the speaker alone received the books; them would refer to other people without the speaker; you would refer to the person being spoken to, not to the speaker. An equally correct phrasing is The teacher gave the new books to us, but the natural, compact version uses us before the direct object.

In this sentence, the action of giving involves two objects: the thing given (the new books) and the recipient. The recipient is written in the pronoun’s object form, because English uses the indirect object in the object case after verbs like give. The group receiving the books includes the speaker, so the correct pronoun is us. So the sentence reads: The teacher gave us the new books.

Using me would imply the speaker alone received the books; them would refer to other people without the speaker; you would refer to the person being spoken to, not to the speaker. An equally correct phrasing is The teacher gave the new books to us, but the natural, compact version uses us before the direct object.