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Daniel Kies Department of English College of DuPage |
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| Modern English
Grammar English 2126 |
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The Indirect Object
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The indirect object is identifiable by all of the criteria of the direct object with a few unique characteristics of its own in form and position.
Form. Although both objects usually occur either as noun phrases or as clauses in form, the indirect object is restricted to the relative clause form.
I sent whoever wants it (IO) copies of a receipt.
Position. The indirect object can occur only when the direct object is also represented in the clause. (Here we use the asterisk [*] to represent ungrammatical forms in a language.)
We gave her (IO) everything (DO).
*We gave her (IO).
The indirect object also occurs only between the verb and the direct object.
We gave (V) her (IO) everything (DO).
*We gave (V) everything (DO) her (IO).
Moreover, only the indirect object can be paraphrased by a prepositional phrase functioning as an adverbial, beginning with either to or for. The choice of the preposition is governed by the main verb of the clause.
We gave her (IO) everything (DO).
We gave everything (DO) to her (A).
Finally, the indirect object can be omitted without affecting the semantic relationships of the remaining constituents of the clause.
We (S) gave (V) her (IO) everything (DO).
We (S) gave (V) everything (DO).
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