[B-Greek] Re: Indirect Object

Chet Creider creider at uwo.ca
Thu Oct 2 16:16:35 EDT 2003


Waldo Slusher wrote:
>> Can something other than a person be an indirect
>>  object?
> Looks like an English question to me, so......
> Yes. The indirect object identifies to or for whom or
> what the action of the verb is performed.
> I gave the ball to Spot (my dog).
> I gave money to United Way (a charity). 
> =====
> Waldo Slusher
> Calgary, AB

The yes answer is correct, but it is worth noting that in
(1) I gave the ball to Spot.
and
(2) I gave money to the United Way.

neither Spot nor "the United Way" are indirect objects.  They _are_ indirect objects in the closely related sentences:
(3) I gave Spot the ball.
(4) I gave the United Way money.

Any good standard reference grammar of English will confirm this, e.g. House and Harman, _Descriptive English
Grammar_, 2nd revised ed. 1950. Prentice-Hall (still in print).  See pp. 271-72.  

An indirect object is a syntactic relation between a verb and a noun phrase.  In (1) and (2) the beneficiaries are not
objects of a verb but of a preposition.

Chet Creider



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