"Thank you for explaining (to me) ... (to me).

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Peaceblinkfriend

#401494 Tue, 07 Aug 07 01:10 PM

Hi all,

Thank you for explaining the differences between them to me.

Thank you for explaining to me the differences between them.

Which version sounds more natural? I think they are both grammatical, right?

Thank you.

Best wishes,

PBF

Peaceblinkfriend

Joined on Wed, May 9 2007

Australia

Contributing Member (1,729)

Sooris

#401496 Tue, 07 Aug 07 01:15 PM

explain is a transitive verb. It takes a direct object.

Explain something.- (correct)

Explain me something.- (correct- Indirect object precedes the direct object)

Explain to me something -(appears awkward)

Explain something to me. (correct)

Sooris

Joined on Tue, Sep 26 2006

chennai

Full Member (121)

Sureshbabu Padmanabahan

Verbs, Direct Objects, Indirect Objects

Linguaphile

#401498 Tue, 07 Aug 07 01:24 PM

The first one is the natural way of saying that.

Linguaphile

Joined on Tue, Jul 17 2007

Turkey

Full Member (140)

Kooyeen

#401544 Tue, 07 Aug 07 03:00 PM

Hi Sooris,

Sooris wrote:
Explain me something.- (correct- Indirect object precedes the direct object)

Ooops! You can give me something, you can teach me something, you can write me a letter... but you can't explain me something! That's a common mistake. You can only explain something (to somebody)... or explain yourself, for example. Smile [:)]

Kooyeen

Joined on Thu, Dec 22 2005

Italy

Senior Member (4,062)

If you don't have a sense of humor already, it's about time you buy one.

Direct Objects, Indirect Objects

Cool Breeze

#401555 Tue, 07 Aug 07 03:39 PM

Peaceblinkfriend wrote:

Thank you for explaining the differences between them to me.

Thank you for explaining to me the differences between them.

Hi PBF

Both sentences are correct. It may be safer for you to use the word order of the first example because you can't normally take many liberties with English word order. In the first sentence the object is immediately after the verb, which is normal in English. However, since the object is quite long (four words), it need not be right after the verb.

Mind you, it wouldn't be right to say:

Thank you for explaining to me it.

The object (it) is far too short to be placed at the end.

Cheers
CB

Cool Breeze

Joined on Fri, Apr 7 2006

Helsinki, Finland

Senior Member (2,990)

The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.- Mark Twain

Verbs, Word Order

CalifJim

#401750 Tue, 07 Aug 07 11:20 PM

If used at all, the indirect object construction is always to X when the verb is explain.
However, it should be noted that the indirect object of explain is almost never explicitly stated.
The indirect object is obvious from context 99.9% of the time.

Thank you for explaining the differences. [No to me, to us, to him, ...]
The teacher explained how the machine worked. [No to me, to us, to him, ...]
We need to explain the rules better the next time we meet with them. [No to me, to us, to him, ...]

CJ

CalifJim

Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004

California

Veteran Member (17,705)

"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche

Verbs, Constructions, Direct Objects, Indirect Objects