English grammar drills part 26 ppsx

Indirect object direct object Jane gave the boss her report.. Object noun phrase complement Ralph considers his boss a fool.. Nearly all complements that have an indirect object direc

Multiple Verb Complements

A complement is any grammatical structure or structures required by a verb to make a valid

sen-tence In this chapter we will examine nine different verb complements that contain two

compo-nents Since it is easy to get all the complements and terms confused, we will briefl y list and label

them all (with an example) before going into any detailed descriptions:

1 Indirect object  direct object

Jane gave the boss her report.

2 Object  noun phrase complement

Ralph considers his boss a fool

3 Object  adjective complement

Ralph considers his boss foolish

4 Object  adverb of place

Obj Adv of Pl

I put the box on the table.

5 Object  that clause

Obj that clause

I told him that his plan was very risky.

6 To phrase  that clause

to phrase that clause

I mentioned to him that we needed to leave soon.

7 Object  infi nitive

Obj Inf

Ralph expected the office to be empty on a Sunday morning.

8 Object  base form

He made me do it.

9 Object  present participle

The teacher caught several students cheating on the exam.

1 Indirect object  direct object

A small but important group of verbs take not one object but two objects When there are two

objects in a sentence, the objects are called the indirect object (IO) and the direct object (DO)

(In a sentence with a single object, that object is always a direct object, usually shortened to just

“object.” We can only have an indirect object where there is also a direct object.) The two objects

occur in a fi xed order: the indirect object always precedes the direct object Here are two

exam-ples of sentences with this type of double complement:

Jane gave the boss her report.

John got the kids a pizza.

Exercise 11.1

Underline the indirect and direct objects in the following sentences Label the indirect object IO

and the direct object DO Be careful not to include optional adverbs as part of the objects.

Jane sent her boss an e-mail at work.

1 My brother teaches college-prep high school seniors advanced calculus.

2 Please order me a toasted bagel with cream cheese.

3 I offered a friend a lift to the train station.

4 Could you read the kids a bedtime story before it gets too late?

5 I did him a big favor once.

6 Pass us some plates and silverware, will you?

7 We should give the people working at the desk a short break.

8 Let’s fi x her a nice dinner for her birthday.

9 Last year we sold the Johnston company about a thousand laser-jet printers.

10 Her great uncle left me a small bequest in his will.

11 We saved you a piece of birthday cake.

12 The car dealership loaned us a car while ours is in the shop.

13 We should write them a nice thank-you note for their gift.

14 Please get me all the current invoices.

15 We should show the visitors the new art gallery.

Nearly all complements that have an indirect object  direct object complement have an alternative form that functions as a paraphrase of the original form We can imagine this

para-phrase taking place as a two-step process: (1) the indirect object is turned into a prepositional

phrase using to or for, and (2) the direct object is then moved in front of the prepositional phrase

Here are examples of how this to/for paraphrase transforms the original IO  DO complements:

Jane gave the boss her report ⇒ Jane gave her report to the boss.

John got the kids a pizza ⇒ John got a pizza for the kids.

It is reasonably easy to predict which verbs take to and which take for In general, to is

used to describe something being transferred from one person to another, either physically or

metaphorically

Here are some examples of a physical transfer:

I gave them the books ⇒ I gave the books to them.

We loaned the neighbors our truck ⇒ We loaned our truck to the neighbors.

Prep

Did you send everyone the memo? ⇒ Did you send the memo to everyone?

Here are some examples of a metaphorical transfer:

I left them the decision ⇒ I left the decision to them.

They loaned the manager my office ⇒ They loaned my office to the manager.

We owe our customers our success ⇒ We owe our success to our customers.

Notice in this last example how much more normal the to paraphrase sounds compared with the

sentence in the original IO  DO order The to/for paraphrase versions are much more

com-monly used than the IO  DO order

Most of the indirect object  direct object verbs that use for in forming the to/for

para-phrase have the basic meaning of doing or making something for the benefi t of someone else For

example:

We built our kids a birdhouse ⇒ We built a birdhouse for our kids.

They did them a favor ⇒ They did a favor for them.

We saved you some cookies ⇒ We saved some cookies for you.

Exercise 11.2

The following sentences are the same sentences used in the previous exercise Using your answers

from Exercise 11.1, use the to/for paraphrase for all the indirect objects You will probably be able

to choose the correct preposition 90 percent of the time based on the guidelines given previously

for selecting to or for.

Jane sent her boss an e-mail at work ⇒ Jane sent an e-mail to her boss at work.

1 My brother teaches college-prep high school seniors advanced calculus.

2 Please order me a toasted bagel with cream cheese.

3 I offered a friend a lift to the train station.

4 Could you read the kids a bedtime story before it gets too late?

5 I did him a big favor once.

6 Pass us some plates and silverware, will you?

7 We should give the people working at the desk a short break.

8 Let’s fi x her a nice dinner for her birthday.

9 Last year we sold the Johnston company about a thousand laser-jet printers.

10 Her great uncle left me a small bequest in his will.

11 We saved you a piece of birthday cake.

12 The car dealership loaned us a car while ours is in the shop.

13 We should write them a nice thank-you note for their gift.

14 Please get me all the current invoices.

15 We should show the visitors the new art gallery.

If both the indirect object and the direct objects are pronouns, then the to/for paraphrase is

obligatory in American English (but not in all dialects of British English) For example:

X The company gave them it ⇒ The company gave it to them

X My parents got them it ⇒ My parents got it for them

Exercise 11.3

Replace both the indirect and direction objects with pronouns, and then apply the to/for

para-phrase to the pronoun objects

I showed our friends the new plan for remodeling the kitchen.

I showed it to them.

1 I owed my cousin a big favor.

2 The real estate agent found my parents a terrifi c apartment.

3 The agent handed my parents the apartment key.

4 The music teacher taught Janet a new piano sonata today.

5 The wizard granted the princess three wishes.

6 Please serve the guests the fi rst course.

7 The owner very kindly saved our friends the last big table.

8 Throw George a towel, will you?

9 The boss promised Dorothy the fi rst new opening.

10 Would you read everybody the message again, please?

11 John bought his kids a playground set.

12 We prepared the new vice president a revised organization chart.

13 Please give Mrs Stoddard our best wishes.

14 We ordered the entire staff a catered lunch.

15 Ship the offi ce in Dayton the new routers.

Let us now look at each type of object complement in more detail

The term complement refers to a noun phrase or adjective that follows an object and renames

that object That is, the object (Obj) and the object complement must refer to the same person

or thing The object complement can be a noun phrase complement (NP Comp) or an adjective

complement (Adj Comp)

Ralph considers his boss a fool

Ralph considers his boss foolish

In both sentences, the object complement refers back to the object:

his boss  a fool (noun phrase complement) his boss  foolish (adjective complement) Here are some more examples of noun phrase complements:

The Supreme Count declared George Bush president.

I pronounce you husband and wife.

Politicians always believe themselves great natural leaders.

One of the problems with object complements is that they look so much like the more com-mon indirect objects in an indirect object  direct object complement construction Both object

complements and direct objects follow other noun phrases How can we tell them apart?

We can easily tell them apart because in an object complement sentence, the person or object

in the object complement must be the same person or object as the preceding noun (the object)

In an indirect object  direct object sentence, they are never the same person or object Compare

the following two sentences:

Obj NP Comp

Object  noun phrase complement: The outcome made John a happy man.

John  a happy man

IO DO

Indirect object  direct object: The kids made John a birthday present

John  a birthday present

A second way to tell them apart is to use the to/for paraphrase This paraphrase will work for

indirect object  direct object complements, but it will never work for object  object

comple-ment sentences For example:

IO  DO: The kids made John a birthday present

To/for paraphrase: The kids made a birthday present for John.

Obj  NP Comp: The outcome made John a happy man

To/for paraphrase: X The outcome made a happy man to/for John.