Final version

Indirect object Prepared by: Mohamed AIT MADANI YOUSSEF

Dr. Youssef Tamer Prof. Jennifer Evans:

Outline

Definition Sentences with indirect object:

two patterns Sentences with indirect object in

discourse Problems that ESL/ EFL students

have with IO Exercise Activity

Definition

An indirect object is a word or a group

of words that tells to whom or to what

something has been done.

I. Sentences with IO: two patterns

Prepositional pattern

In this pattern the IO (the goal) comes after the DO (the theme) and it is preceded by the preposition to.

An Example for illustration:

I sent an email to the teacher.

DO PrepositionPreposition IO

there are kind of verbs that have IO preceded by other prepostions like:

Verbs that have IO preceded by the preposition for.

I call a taxi for my friend.

Sentences with for dative verbs can have two meanings:

1. The subject performs the action indicated by the verb as a favor for the IO.

2. The subject performs the action because the IO can not do it.

Verbs that have IO preceded by the preposition of such as ask and require.

We asked a question of the child.

Dative movement pattern

Indirect object occurs between the verb and the direct object and the preposition is omitted.

I gave the book to Brahim.

I gave Brahim the book.

Factors that restrict the possible pattern

Sentences with IO can accept the two

patterns or just one of them.

There are several factors that

determine which pattern is the most

suitable.

Animacy of subject and indirect object

The first factor

for both patterns to work, the subject

and the indirect object should be an

animate.

But if this is not the case, sentences

can generally take only one pattern.

e.g

The rain brought disaster to the farmer. The rain brought the farmer disaster.

incorrect

However, it is possible to find sentences

with both patterns in which the subject or the

indirect object is an inanimate.

But the verb in this case has not an action

meaning.

e.g The justices give a literal interpretation to the

constitution.(prepositional pattern) The justices give the constitution a literal

interpretation.(dative movement pattern)

The second factor

The effect of verb meaning

Verbs that ordinarily take two patterns may in

some cases be possible only with one pattern.

e.g I owe five bucks to larry.

Two patterns

I owe larry five bucks.

I owe my progress to my father one pattern

The third factor

Verbs that are restricted to one

pattern

Verbs that are only or usually appear with

dative movement pattern.

Some verbs like allow, bet, forgive, envy, and

others appear only in the dative movement

pattern: No one envies you that task. No one envies that task to you.

Verbs that appear only in the

preposional pattern.

Not all to dative verbs and for dative verbs

can take the dative movement pattern.Those

that don’t are restricted to the prepositional

pattern.

Common verbs that appear only in the

prepositional pattern:

To dative verbs for dative verbsConfess,admit,declare,deliver,contribute,

answer,cash,capture,create,eat;repeat

Strate,donate, and many others. Select,correct,fix, and many others.

The fourth factor

Pronominal direct object

Both the DO and the IO can be pronouns.

When the DO is a pronoun used in place

of an NP with a definite article, the

sentence cannot occur in the dative

movement pattern Iman gave the CD to Idriss. Iman gave Idriss it.

This does not hold if the DO is a pronoun

such as one or some used in place of NP

with an indefinite article. Aziz sent a presentation to his

classmates. Aziz sent his classmates one.

It also does not hold if the DO is a

demonstrative pronoun used to replace an

NP with a demonstrative determiner. Tofik gave that t-shirt to Jawad. Tofik gave Jawad that.

Excercise

For each sentence, decide what pronoun

corresponds to the underlined NP and indicate

whether that pronoun could replace the NP.

1. He loaned her a watch.

2. She handed him the flowers.

3. He lent her some gloves.

4. Ali passed him the salt.

5. I give her those pictures.

Answers

1. He loaned her a watch.(one. Yes)

2. She handed him the flowers.(them. No)

3. He lent her some gloves.(some. Yes)

4. Ali passed him the salt.(it. No)

5. I give her those pictures.(those. Yes)

II. Sentences with indirect object in discourse

Sentences with IO occur in daily

conversation.

And the choice of the suitable pattern

is determined by two information

structuring principles:

Sentences with indirect object in discourse

1. The Given-new contract and IO

This states that given or mentioned

information should appear before new

Information.


use

DO was given prepositional pattern use

IO was given dative movement pattern

E.g

Susan: I can’t figure out what to get John for

his birthday. Any idea?

Ann: give him a CD. You know how much he

likes music.


2. End weightA long, complex, heavy NP should not

appear in the middle of a clause Mrs. Jennifer gave the list of the

students who are selected to attend the conference to us.


Mrs. Jennifer gave us the list of the students who are selected to attend the conference.


End weight and avoidance of ambiguity

We move the long DO to the end to

avoid ambiguity. The man bought a rocking chair that

Frank had spent all summer restoring for his mother.


We don’t know whether Frank restore the

chair for his mother or that the man bought

it for his mother. But if we say:

The man bought his mother a rocking chair that Frank had spent all summer restoring.


End weight and verbs that

don’t take Dative Movement.

The problem raises when we have a

complex NP as a DO of a verb that don’t

take dative movement pattern.


As a solution many writers choose to move

the long direct object NP to the end of the

Sentence. Hassan demonstrated the method for

fixing a carburetor that Hamza taught him

to his friend.


Hassan demonstrated to his friend the

method for fixing a carburetor that Hamza

taught him.

prep + IO + DO

Excercise

For each discourse choose (A) or (B) as a completion and explain

your choice.

Example: do you see Hayda?

A . I have just sent him a message.

B . I have just sent a message to him.

Answer: A; because it puts the old information before the new one.

1. I want to attend the birthday party of Mr.Omar so I decided to:

A . buy him a t-shirt.

B . buy a t-shirt for him.

Excercise

2. There were two items on the table a package and a letter.where are They?

A .I sent Hamza the package and Salwa the letter.

B . I sent the package to Hamza and the letter to Salwa.

3. Fred wanted to make a good impression on his first date with Susan so he decided to:

A .bring her some flowers.

B .bring some flowers to her

Answers

1. (A) because it puts given information (him) before the new one (message).

2. (B) since it puts the already mentioned information before the new one.

3. (A) because it puts the old information (her) before the new one (some flowers).

Problems that EFL/ESL have with IO

Students are influenced by thier L1

when they move from one pattern

to the other.

E.g

In Arabic we say:

لحمزة الحلوى .اشتريت

I bought the sweet for Hamza.(correct)

الحلوى لحمزة .اشتريت I bought for Hamza the sweet.(incorrect)

Tell and say(German)in English, the verb tell takes two pattern; while say take only the

prepositional pattern. But students whose mother tongue is German

may use the verb sagen (say) not only in the sense of say but also in

the sense of tell.

They are influenced by the structure of their language and come up

with sentences like:

a. He said me her name.

b. He said to her she should come.

c. He told to Judith, ’’i am coming’’.

Incorrect

The activity

Read the text carefully and find out the mistakes (indirect object) and correct them.

Amals’s accident was on Monday. Her classmates wanted to give a hand of help to her but they didn’t know what to do. “I know what we can do” said Zakaria. “We can collect some money for her.” “Good idea.” Replied Mohamed. Another student says “I will send her a message to know whether we have the possibility to visit her or no.” “If it is not possible to visit her we will send her our wishes for recovery with one girl who is living in the same resident.” The next day Nadia started to gather the gifts. When she finished she gave her them. And she brought good news about Amal to her classmates.

Her classmates wanted to give her a hand of help…

We can collect her some money.

she gave them to her.

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