Text Chapter 7
Text Chapter 9
Grammar Text Table of Contents
Chapter 8
Basic Sentence Pattern #3: Subject + V t + IO + DO
[Indirect Object]
Examples:
Carol threw John the ball.
Big boys and little boys often give their mothers trouble.
You will note that the only difference between Sentence Pattern #2 and Sentence Pattern #3 is that the latter has an additional feature: the indirect object. Now, how can I go about discussing indirect objects without giving you a confusing definition? O.K. First look at the direct objects in the two sample sentences ("the ball" "trouble"). They are noun phrases (NPs), right? In each sentence they have a relationship with the verb that causes the verb to be transitive. That much we know from the discussion in the previous chapter. Also, the previous chapter says that if we have only one object, it will be the direct object. In either of the above sentences, we can find the direct object by seeing which of the noun phrases in the predicate can be removed without a drastic change in the meaning of the sentence. For instance we can say "Carol threw the ball" without contradicting the original sentence. We cannot, however, say "Carol threw John" without such contradiction. Therefore, we know that "the ball" is the direct object and that the other noun phrase, "John," must be something else. And it happens to be the indirect object. Later, in other sentence patterns, we’re going to confuse you by introducing other nominals in the predicate that are not direct objects or indirect objects. For now, let’s keep it simple by ignoring such stuff. Let’s just look a little more closely at the characteristics of an indirect object. One thing that you can do with an indirect object is to move it to a spot after the direct object. To do that, you have to put a preposition in front of it (usually "to," occasionally "for"). We can say "Carol threw the ball to John." Or maybe, "Carol baked a cake for John." Some grammarians say that it is no longer an indirect object when you do this, but who cares what some grammarians say? Call it a prepositional phrase if you want. Semantically (I told you I’d try to keep you informed about semantics), it works like an indirect object and it is certainly a good formal test of whether a nominal is an indirect object. Bottom line: don’t let indirect objects give you gastric distress. They are a limited commodity, pretty easy to spot if you remember what I said in this paragraph.
Just a note about the movement test. Indirect objects can ordinarily be turned into prepositional phrases and moved to a later slot in a sentence. However, every to or for prepositional phrase that occurs after the direct object is not necessarily an indirect object. Take for instance the following sentence: "Carol opened the door for John." We can’t turn that around and say "Carol opened John the door." So what do we call "for John" in this case. Most grammarians would not call it an indirect object. They would just call it a prepositional phrase. But as we said before . . . .
Let’s just do an old-fashioned drill today. Working in groups, underline or Italicize the indirect objects in the following sentences. Note: Some of the sentences don’t have indirect objects. Also note: Some of the sentences are tricky. OnlineIf you have problems with these sentences, post questions on the Main Discussion Thread.
1. The tree gave the house a real whack.
2. The class proclaimed Olive the May-queen.
3. Truant students give police fits.
4. General White sent guns to the east coast.
5. General White sent guns to his friends.
6. Every good boy does fine.
7. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy sleeping dog.
8. Give me liberty or give me death.
9. Give me liberty if you don’t want me to give you death.
10. When do you want Mary to bring you coffee?
Chapter 8 Homework Assignment: Type a paragraph about fishing for yellow-fin tuna in the Bermuda triangle. Be sure to write at least three sentences that have indirect objects. After you finish the paragraph, retype the sentences with IOs moving the IOs to the ends of the sentences as prepositional phrases.