Indirect Objects

1. Indirect Objects Ed Morrow ENG 588

2. Presentation Outline • What is an indirect object? • Syntactic Forms and Configurations • Problems for ESL/EFL students. • Sample Lesson Plans.

3. What is an Indirect Object?

4. Definitions: ‘to whom’ ‘of whom’ • An indirect object is a second noun object that tells us to whomor for whom the action of the verb is being carried out. • A sentence with an indirect object must have a direct object, the object NP that undergoes the action. What.

5. Definitions: Example 1 Joe gave a book to Sally. To who? Sally = indirect object What is given? A book = direct object

6. Definitions: Example 2 We gave John a present. To who? John = indirect object What was given? A present = direct object

7. Example 3 • We can also ask ‘for whom’ the action was done for. I bought a present for John.

8. Definitions: ‘of whom’ • Our textbook also points out that indirect objects tell us of whomthe action expressed in the verb is being requested.

9. Definitions: Example 3 Joe asked a question of Sally. Of Whom? Sally = indirect object Asked what? A question = direct object

10. Where they appear • Indirect objects appear with verbs that either require two NP objects to complete the meaning of the sentence or to provide supplemental information. (grammatical or optional) • The verb-indirect combinations depend on the inherent meaning of the verb in the sentence.

11. Characteristics of English Verbs that Take Indirect Objects • We can describe verbs that have indirect objects in the following ways: • Ditransitive Verbs • Verb Types: Semantics of Verbs

12. Ditransitive Verbs • We have reviewed earlier in the semester that verbs that take an indirect object and a direct object are called ditransitive verbs. • Verbs that take one object are called transitive verbs. • We will shortly see that a ‘give type’ verb will always function as a ditransitive verb, but there are also many verbs that have dual functions.

13. Ditransitive and Transitive Verbs

14. Inherent Meanings of Verbs • In order to fully understand what indirect objects represent and how they function, we need to look for different ways to categorize the verbs based on their meanings. • Our textbook shows us several ways to categorize the verbs.

15. Semantics of Verbs The textbook refers us to Jacobson’s (1966) Three semantic groups: • Dative = giving type verbs • Benefactive = ‘make’ ‘bake’ • Eliciting = ‘ask’ ‘request’

16. Dative Verbs – ‘Give’ • Dative verbs have an inherent meaning associated with giving. • In sentences with dative verbs, IOs in the post-prepositional position are preceded by the ‘to’ preposition.

17. Examples of Dative Verbs with ‘to’

18. Examples of Dative Verbs give, hand, lend, paid, sell, send, throw……. • I gave a book to Sally. • *I gave a book. • Mel handed a letter to Frank. • *Mel handed a letter. For the verbs ‘gave’ and ‘handed’ they will need an indirect object to complete the meaning and structure of their sentences. Dative verbs compose the largest category that uses indirect objects.

19. Benefactive Verbs ‘Make’ • Benefactive verbs have something to do with making or an action where someone benefits. • Indirect objects in the post-prepositional position are preceded by the preposition ‘for’.

20. Examples of Benefactive Verbs with ‘for’

21. Examples of Benefactive Verbs bake, build, buy, cook, do, make….. I baked a cake for Sam. I cooked dinner for the family.

22. Quick Note: The Ambiguity of ‘for’ Phrases Consider the following sentence: My mom bought it for me. What does this mean?

23. Questions that come to mind: Did my mother act on my behalf because I couldn’t for whatever reason? Or did she buy it as a gift?

24. Eliciting Verbs • Eliciting verbs have to do with an action related to ‘ask’ and ‘require’. • They make up the smallest category of verbs using indirect objects. • In the post-prepositional position, indirect objects are preceded by the preposition ‘of’.

25. Examples of Eliciting Verbs Joe asked a question of Sally. They require an explanation of your Majesty. Notably these sentences sound too archaic or old fashioned, thus we do not see them in common speech.

26. A Problem with Semantic Grouping • Our textbook does point out that this semantic categorization will not work in all cases. For example consider the verb ‘get’. I’ll get this to him. I’ll get this for him. Which one is in the dative? Benefactive?

27. I’ll get this to him. (dative = “deliver”) I’ll get this for him. (benefactive = “fetch, obtain”) The distinction is in preposition ‘to’ and ‘for’.

28. Other examples: • Bring the money to me. • I have brought your luggage for you. • I will drive the car to you. • I will drive the car for you. • He left a pretty fortune to his wife. (?) • I left some cookies for you.

29. Let’s look at other subcategories. • Other linguists have identified eight semantic categories for verbs followed by indirect objects. • In ESL instruction, we can refer to such subcategories when we teach the meaning of the different verb-indirect combinations.

30. Subcategories • Verbs of transfer: throw, buy, send, lend, sell, give, hand, pass. He threw Chloe the ball. I passed Steve the salt. Jane sent her daughter a present.

31. 2. Verbs that speak of the recipient’s future possession or nonpossession of something: promise, offer, allow, allot, refuse, deny. Bill promised Sue a watch. Jack offered Jim a raise. I refused Mike a drink.

32. 3. Verbs of making or creating: bake, knit, carve, make, fix, draw, write. Jack baked a cake for Suzie. She drew a picture for Jim. I fixed the car for my wife.

33. 4. Verbs of preparing something for use: fry, roast, grill, iron, butter, peel. I grilled the kids some hot dogs. She peeled Bill an apple. I fried Jessie some fish sticks.

34. 5. Verbs related to entertaining: read, sing, tell, play. I read her a story. She sang Jim a song.

35. 6. Verbs relating to some form of communication: phone, wire, fax, tell. John wired his daughter some money. I’ll fax you the copy.

36. 7. Verbs related to teaching someone to do something: teach, show, tell. I taught Fido a trick. He showed me the solution.

37. 8. Verbs of showing something so someone can see it: show Tim showed Sam a picture. Note: a verb form can belong to more than one category. Tell → entertaining, communicating, or teaching. I told him a story. She told me the news. John taught his son math.

38. Verbs with Indirect Objects • There are many ways to categorize verbs that function with the indirect object. • The common terminology, however, we will come across with is the term dative verbs. • This term is often referred to when we discuss indirect objects occurring in the post-prepositional position and postverbal position. (Dative Movement)

39. Summary to this point We have seen the following to this point: • The indirect object is a 2nd noun object. • It can be described as the recipient, benefactor, or elicitor of an action. • The function of an indirect object really depends on the function or the inherent meaning of the main verb.

40. What is not an Indirect Object • Look at the following sentences: The kids made John a birthday cake. IO DO The kids made a birthday cake for John. DO IO

41. What about this? The outcome made John a happy man. Is there an indirect object? An object?

42. This sentence is different since ‘ a happy man’ is an object complement. • We can test it two ways:

43. Post-prepositional position test *The outcome made a happy man to/for John.

44. Is the phrase ‘a happy man’ connected to John? • In this sentence the object complement is the same person. John = a happy man • In an indirect object + direct object sentence, they are never the same person or object. The kids made John a birthday cake. John ≠ a birthday cake

45. Wrap Up • It is important to understand the meaning of indirect objects • It is also important to know how it is used with verbs • Verbs have different semantic meanings

46. Indirect Objects in Different Syntactic Configurations and Forms • In this next part of the presentation lets look at how indirect objects alternate and how they appear or are implied (invisible) at the sentence level.

47. Seeking Explanations for Alternations and Forms We commonly see two patterns: • S V DO {to, for, of} IO • S V IO DO

48. Function of Indirect Object Alternation • Concept of dominance basically looks at what the speaker wants to highlight and to draw the listener’s attention. V NP1 {to/for/of} NP2. In this the dominant noun phrase is NP2. Please pass the salt to me. In this sentence it’s all about me.

49. If you want to give prominence to the direct object, then the alternate pattern is available. Pass me the salt please.

50. Dative Verbs and Indirect Object Alternations • In sentences with dative verbs, indirect objects occur in either a postverbal or post-prepositional positions. Mike gave the car to Sara. Mike gave Sara the car.