Herb,
   It seems to me "hit" has a complex transitive pattern as well. "He hit
the vase off the table." "He hit the ball into the stands." I don't
think traditional grammar recognizes those adverbials as complements,
but it seems clear to me.>It's not where the hitting happened, but what
happened to the vase or the table as a result of the action.
   I am continually humbled by how much I don't know. I'll check out
Levin's book.

Craig

 Craig,
>
> The specialized ESL dictionaries, like the Oxford Advanced Learner's
> Dictionary or the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English include
> grammatical patterns in their definitions, and for a word like "hit" there
> will be two entries, one as a transitive and one as a ditransitive.  The
> distinction is important because in different patterns verbs may have
> slightly different meanings.  Those dictionaries do a very careful and
> rigorous analysis of verb patterns, far beyond the five to eight most of
> us teach.  They both have around fifty.  Of course, if you look at Beth
> Levin's book on English verb patterns, you'll find about 330.
>
> Herb
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar on behalf of Craig
> Hancock
> Sent: Tue 11/28/2006 3:15 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Prepositional phrase as an indirect object
>
> Herb,
>    I'm right with you with the whole analysis (both posts), but can't help
> feeling that "hit" may not be intentional in some contexts. If it's
> outfield practice, then "the coach hit the ball to me" would imply it's
> my turn. If I'm in the field, then "to me" is probably not something
> the batter intended. It may mean something closer to "the batter hit
> the ball to right field", much more adverbial in nuance.
>    I do want to vote, though, for the semantic label to remain in both
> positions if the meaning includes intention. I like the functional
> analysis. The new information shifts to the end.  "What did he hit to
> me?"  "He hit me the ball."  "Who did he hit the ball to?" "He hit the
> ball to me."
>
> Craig
>    >
>
>  "hit" as a ditransitive verb licenses an indirect object.  Whether that
>> IO shows up post-verbally or after the DO is a matter, in part, of
>> whether it's new or old information.  But part of the confusion is that
>> we use IO both functionally and structurally.  Functionally "to me" is
>> the patient, not an adverb.  Structurally whether it's an adverb depends
>> on whether it behaves like an adverb.
>>
>> We can say "(intentionally) Jack (intentionally) hit the ball
>> (intentionally) to me (intentionally)," that is, the manner adverb can
>> occur in any of those four positions.  "To me" doesn't have the same
>> mobility because it's a complement of "hit" rather than a modifier.
>> This suggests that it's not adverbial, at least not in the same sense
>> that "intentionally" is.
>>
>> Herb
>>
>>
>> I'd go with an adverbial prepositional phrase.  'To me' certainly
>> modifies 'hit', does it not?  Is it different than "Jack hit the ball
>> quickly?"
>>
>> Edward Vavra wrote:
>>>     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
>>>
>>> --
>>> This message has been scanned for viruses and
>>> dangerous content by EduTech's *MailScanner*
>>> <http://www.mailscanner.info/> Vaccine1, and is
>>> believed to be clean. To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please
>>> visit the list's web interface at:
>>> http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or
>>> leave the list"
>>>
>>> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
>>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> James Sebastian Bear
>> Montpelier Public School
>> www.montpelier.k12.nd.us/classroom.html
>>
>> To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web
>> interface at:
>>      http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
>> and select "Join or leave the list"
>>
>> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
>>
>> To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web
>> interface
>> at:
>>      http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
>> and select "Join or leave the list"
>>
>> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
>>
>
> To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface
> at:
>      http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
> and select "Join or leave the list"
>
> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
>
> To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface
> at:
>      http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
> and select "Join or leave the list"
>
> Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
>

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/