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| Modern English Grammar English 2126 |
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The Indirect Object
Note: Labels of the clause-level functions have changed. These pages use both
- the terminology of Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G., and Svartvik, J. (1985) Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, Longman. (CGEL)
and
- the teminology of the most recent version of that grammar — Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S., and Finegan, E. (2021) Grammar of Spoken and Written English, John Benjamins. (GSWE)
since many textbooks and school grammars currently use either one set of terminology or the other.
In these pages, I will place the GSWE labels in square brackets after the CGEL labels, as in subject complement [subject predicative] and SC [SP].
Mapping clause function labels between CGEL and GSWE
CGEL (1985)
GSWE (2021)
Subject[S] Subject[S]
Verb[V] Verb[V]
Direct object[DO] Object Direct object[DO] Indirect object[IO] Indirect object[IO] Subject complement[SC] Predicative Subject predicative[SP] Object complement[OC] Object predicative[OP] Adverbial[A] Adverbial Optional adverbial[OpA] Adverbial complement[AC] Obligatory adverbial[ObA]
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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 [OpA]).
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).
REFERENCES Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S., and Finegan, E. (2021). Grammar of Spoken and Written English. John Benjamins.
Curme, G. (1931). A Grammar of the English Language, 2 volumes. D. C. Heath and Company.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1994). Introduction to Functional Grammar, 2nd ed. Edward Arnold.
Quirk, R., S. Greenbaum, G. Leech, and J. Svartvik. (1985). A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. Longman.
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