The 3rd-graders at P.S. 277 in Brooklyn twisted upward in their seats, hands fluttering on outstretched arms like flags atop a pole. As teacher Janet Kennedy recognized them, they marched in turn to ...
Like the subject, the object is usually a noun (‘the piano’) or a noun phrase, (‘the big, black piano’). Verbs that take objects describe some kind of action rather than a state of being.