Thank you to everyone who responded to my question. In particular, I
appreciated Scott Woods' comment. The question originally came from a
user of the KISS site. In other words, it came from someone who is not
particularly comfortable with grammatical terms, but who had noted the
similarity. Within KISS, it's not a major question, but we should be
able to provide meaningful answers to students who ask thoughtful
questions. All of your responses have given me a broader perspective on
the question, and I think I'll be able to use that perspective to add a
short meaningful note to the teachers' notes for the KISS site.
Thanks again,
Ed

>>> [log in to unmask] 11/28/2006 9:36:47 PM >>>

Ed, Bill, et al.,
 
It may be useful for us to consider this (and every other issue) from
the perspective of the learner; this is, after all, the Assembly for the
Teaching of English Grammar, and not for the Scholarly Study of it (as
valuable as that is, and as much as we all enjoy it).  From the
learner's perspective, the one who got the ball does not change, so it
would be confusing to change the terms used.  It is much easier to learn
that the indirect object occurs in a prepositional phrase after the
direct object and plain before it.  There is much less teaching
necessary, and much less chance for misunderstanding. If we call them
the same thing, it becomes much easier to see these two things as
basically the same.  If we call them different things, grammar suddenly
becomes difficult for many students, and something that stops making
intuitive sense for the rest.  As teachers, when we decide how to
describe language (or anything else), we should pick the way which will
make it easier for the learner to understand it and to use that
knowledge.

Scott Woods

From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Edward Vavra
Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2006 12:21 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Prepositional phrase as an indirect object

 
    I was recently asked about "to me" in the sentence "Jack hit the
ball to me." Is "to me" an adverbial prepositional phrase, or can it be
considered a prepositional phrase that functions as an indirect object,
i.e., as a noun? My question is--Do members of this list agree on one or
the other explanation, or is their disagreement?

Thanks,

Ed


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