Hi Ed,
I've been away from my computer for two weeks--and just found the
discussion of your indirect object question (scattered through 500+
spams!).
As some of the responders have made clear, "hit" has
several meanings--but certainly the "giver/recipient"
meaning is one of them. As Nancy commented, in my
"Understanding English Grammar" I put the "give"
verbs in one pattern (the sentence patterns are based on verb
categories). In all of the verbs in that category--those with a
recipient as indirect object--a version with "to" or
"for" is also a possible alternative. I call that
recipient an "indirect object" whether or not it has
been transformed into the object of a preposition.
Here's an important point that I think has been missed in the
discussion: When the direct object is a pronoun, the
prepositional phrase is required for the indirect object. In
other words, the indirect object must appear as the object of the
preposition:
Jack
hit him the ball.
Jack
hit the ball to him.
Jack
hit it to him.
*Jack
hit him it.
I gave
Jack the ball.
I gave
the ball to Jack.
I gave
it to Jack.
*I gave
Jack it.
The term "indirect object" names a function;
"prepositional phrase" names a form; sometimes prepositional
phrase is the form that carries out that function. And, as these
examples show, sometimes the prepositional phrase is the required
form.
Martha
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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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