There have already been several questions regarding what counts as a target for a spell; some, such as this Q/A, are regarding glyph of warding as it states:
The spell must target a single creature or an area.
The spell must target a single creature or an area...
Some such as this Q/A and this Q/A are about the War Caster feat which states:
The spell must have a casting time of 1 action and must target only that creature.
And others, such as this Q/A, this Q/A, and this Q/A are regarding the Sorcerer's Twinned Spell Metamagic which states:
When you cast a spell that targets only one creature and doesn’t have a range of self... To be eligible, a spell must be incapable of targeting more than one creature at the spell’s current level...
There was already this Q/A on "Do worn or carried objects count as additional targets for a spell if they are also affected by the spell?" but this was not about what actually makes something a target.
Jeremy Crawford clarified in the 19/JAN/2017 Sage Advice segment of the Dragon Talk podcast (starting at 11:00) that:
When the rules say "target" they really mean the English definition... The meaning that the rules are getting at is that when you choose someone or something to be subjected to some kind of effect, that's one of the common ways the word targeted is used in English... Any time a spell is telling you to pick a creature or an object or a point in space, to be affected by something, really that thing is functioning in that moment as a target of some kind.
But now that this is unofficial, I am wondering how to interpret this usage of the word "targets".
How do I know if a spell targeted something/somebody?
