The indirect object

The indirect recipient object

As has been mentioned above, the indirect recipient object is used mainly with transitive verbs, which thus take two objects, and are accordingly calledditransitive. Verbs governing the indirect recipient object fall into two classes, which in accordance with their general semantics are calledverbs of benefaction andverbs of inducement.

Verbs of benefaction denote an action that is addressed to a person or is done for that person's sake or benefit.

First she gave him his supper.

I’ve bought a pair of beautiful earrings for you, dear.

Verbs of inducеment denote an action which causes a person to do some other action.

Ann told him to leave her alone.

I beg you to forgive me.

§ 74. The indirect recipient object is generally used together with the direct object and precedes it (see the examples above).

If the indirect object is attached to a verb of benefaction, the direct object is usually a noun, a pronoun, or a clause.

Bring the man his things.

I told her everything.

They did not show him what it was.

Some verbs of benefaction can take an infinitive or a gerund as their direct object.

Help me (to) do it.

She promised me to be punctual.

Miss Craggs taught them singing.

If the indirect recipient object is attached to a verb of inducement, the direct object can only be an infinitive or an infinitive phrase.

She asked him to come to dinner.

When attached to verbs of benefaction, the indirect recipient object may sometimes be used alone, that is, without a following direct object. This occurs:

a) Where it is attached to the predicate verb in the passive.

At last the check was given her and she left.

b) After the verbs to answer, to ask, to envy, to forgive, to help,toteach.

She used to teach me once.

I’ve helped you all my life.

Note:

The indirect recipient object may also be used alone after the verbs to read, to explain, to dictate, to spell, to sing, to write, but in the case of the first five it always takes the preposition to, whereas with to write both forms are possible.

Why do you never read to me now?

Will she sing to us tonight?

At first she wrote to him twice a week.

Write me back as soon as you get the cable.

When attached to verbs of inducement, the indirect recipient object can never be used alone.

Form and positionof theindirect recipient objects

§ 75. As to their form and position the following cases must be distinguished:

1. If the indirect recipient object is attached to a verb of inducement, it is always non-prepositional and has a fixed position in the sentence just before the direct object.

Mother ordered me to get down.

He urged her to write a story about it.

2. If it is attached to the verbs of benefaction to announce, to ascribe, to attribute, to communicate, to contribute, to dedicate, to dictate, to disclose, to explain, to interpret, to introduce, to open, to point out, to repeat, to submit, to suggest, it is always prepositional and has two possible positions in the sentence, either before the direct object or after it. In both cases it is governed by the preposition to. It usually precedes the direct object if the latter is modified by an attribute.

He dictated the letter to his secretary.

Up to her death in 1935 she did not open to me her secret.

Then she explained to me the cause of her refusal.

3. If the indirect recipient object is attached to a verb of benefaction other than those listed above, its form and position vary according to certain rules:

a) The indirect recipient object is non-prepositional when it precedes the direct object.

She offered him a sandwich.

Jane sang me a song.

b) The indirect recipient object is prepositional when it follows the direct object. In this case the most frequent preposition is to.

She has given some kind of task to each girl.

I’m going to offer something to you.

If the indirect recipient object denotes a person for whose benefit the action is done, it has the preposition for.

I’ll buy this for you.

с) The position of the indirect recipient object after the direct object is sometimes obligatory. This is the case either when both objects are personal pronouns, as in:

Give him to me.

Send me to them.

or when the direct object is a personal pronoun, while the indirect object is a noun, as in

Give them to Nanny.

Show it to John.

If the direct object is the pronoun it and the indirect recipient object is any other personal pronoun, the indirect recipient object may take the preposition or not.

Give it to him = Give it him.

The latter is more colloquial.

§ 76. Sometimes the indirect recipient object may be placed before the predicate verb. This occurs in the following cases:

1. In pronominal questions referring to the indirect recipient object or its attribute.

Whom did you show the brooch to?

To whom did you send the parcel?

Which boy has she given the money to?

To which porter did you give your suitcase?

As seen from the examples, the preposition to can either retain its position after the direct object or come before the question word. Questions of the first type are characteristic of colloquial style, while those of the second type are formal.

Note:

In colloquial speech the nominative case form who often replaces the objective form whom. In this case the preposition can only be placed at the end of the sentence.

Who did you give the money to?

2. In attributive clauses.

This friend of his whom she had shown the letter to did not appear to know anything.

The man to whom she had given two loaves of bread never came back.

3. If the object is to be made more emphatic for the sake of contrast.

To you he’s telling his tales, not to me.

The indirect non-recipient object

§ 77. The indirect non-recipient object is a prepositional object that follows both transitive and intransitive verbs and completes their meaning, The indirect non-recipient object may be preceded by various prepositions.

I thought about it a good deal.

Invention arises from idleness.

How would you deal with the problem?

I could hardly stand on my skates then.

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