Johanna,

When I present ditransitives, I present V IO DO and V DO PP as
alternative structures.  We talk about pragmatic factors governing
choice between them, and I give them examples of verbs like "explain"
that allow only V DO PP and verbs like "wish" that allow only V IO DO.
We also talk about verbs like "warn" that take V IO PP (Mary warned John
of the danger) and false ditransitives like "Mary gave the wall a coat
of paint".  While I present seven different verb types, based on
complementation, I want them to understand that these are major types
but don't come close to exhausting the classification.

Herb


My students also often bring up the IO terminology problem. I tell them 
it is a matter of different use of terminology by different analysts. 
Then I tell them I will use IO to refer only to the noun phrase 
following the verb, not the PP.

That leaves the question of what to call the PP. I'd like to say it's 
adverbial, but it doesn't fit the structural diagnostics for adverbials.

For instance, adverbials answer "when, where, why, how, and for what 
purpose" questions. PP-IO's don't answer such questions; the questions 
for such PPs are "who(m) did you give it to' or "who(m) did you make it 
for".

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johanna Rubba   Associate Professor, Linguistics
English Department, California Polytechnic State University
One Grand Avenue  * San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Tel. (805)-756-2184  *  Fax: (805)-756-6374 * Dept. Phone.  756-2596
* E-mail: [log in to unmask] *      Home page: 
http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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