Search results for 'tag:Articles tag:Indirect objects' matching tags 'Articles' and 'Indirect objects'

Verbs

ganesh77 — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 09:38:41 GMT

The list isn't meant to be exhaustive or carefully arranged. Any additions, corrections or further examples would be welcomed.

1 main verbs; lexical verbs (all verbs which are not auxiliaries or modals)

2 action verbs; event verbs; dynamic verbs (a verb which can be used in continuous tenses) i.e. eat, run, talk

3 state of being verbs; existence verbs; state verbs; stative verbs; static verbs (a verb which describes a state and is not usually used in a continuous tense) i.e. be, own, know

4 regular verbs (a verb that has four forms and follows the normal rules)

5 irregular verbs; strong verbs (a verb not following the normal rules for inflection)

6 auxiliary and modal verbs (which make up verbal phrases) â 23 in total

7 linking verbs; copulative verbs; copulas (a verb which links the subject and complement of a clause) i.e. It is warm today.

8 transitive verbs (a verb used to talk about an action or event that involves more than one person or thing, and so is followed by an object) i.e. Sheâs wasting her money.

9 intransitive verbs (a verb used to talk about an action or event that only involved the subject and so has no object) i.e. She arrived.

10 multiword verbs

a type 1 â intransitive [phrasal verbs; adverb particle

b type 2 â transitive (inseparable) [prepositional verbs; preposition particles]

c type 3 â transitive (separable) [phrasal verbs; adverb particle]

d type 4 â transitive (with two inseparable particles) [phrasal-prepositional verbs; first particle is an adverb, second particle is a preposition]

11 compound verbs

12 delexical verbs (a verb which has very little meaning in itself but is used with an object to describe an action) i.e. She gave a small cry.

13 ditransitive verbs (a verb which can have both a direct and indirect object) i.e. She gave me a kiss.

14 ergative verbs (a verb which can be used transitively to focus on the performer of the action, or intransitively to focus on the thing affected by the action) i.e. He boiled the water. The water boiled.

15 reporting verbs; performance verbs; performative verbs (a verb used with a quote or a reported clause to describe what people say or think) i.e. suggest, say, wonder

16 reciprocal verbs (a verb which describes an action involving two people doing the same thing to each other) i.e. They met in the street.

17 reflexive verbs (a verb which is typically used with a reflexive pronoun) i.e. Donât cut yourself with that knife.

18 defective verbs (a verb without all the inflected forms of a regular verb) i.e. modals

19 finite and non-finite

a infinitives

b gerunds; verbal nouns

c participles

20 catenative verbs (a verb that takes other verb forms as objects; found at the head of a series of linked constructions) i.e. We agreed to try to decide to stop eating snacks.

21 causative verbs (a verb that designates the action necessary to cause another action to happen) i.e. The devil made me do it.

Re: About the meaning of "where"

Velimir — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 22:11:58 GMT

I'll try to give some information on this as a non-professional.This is how it looks like in the serbian language,and I suppose,it is very similar in all other slavic languages and also the latin language.

For indicating a location the locative case of a noun is used.If the english language had similar declension of nouns then the nouns following the prepositions "in" and "at" would be in the locative case.The presence of the preceding preposition is obligatory when the noun is in the locative case.

But,if the verb indicates motion,or in plain english,if you are :
going to, flying to, traveling to..

like in the question given in the opening post,then the noun will be in the dative case.This case you can connect with the nouns following the preposition "to" although the preposition is not necessarily present.The word "dative" derives from latin "dare" which means "to give" and the usage is most obvious on the example of that verb:

I gave my girlfriend a flower.

If you translated this in serbian,"girlfriend" would be in the dative case.Indirect object is in the dative case.The direct object ("a flower") is in the accusative case.

"Cases play a major part in determining a noun's syntactic role in the sentence, so word order is not as important in Latin as it is in other languages, such as English. Because of noun cases, words can often be moved around in a sentence without significantly altering its meaning, though the emphasis will have altered" (from a Wikipedia article on the latin language)
Btw,changing nouns,adjectives,pronouns and numbers to different cases is pretty tough area of the language with more cases,and is often lifelong mistery for many natives,and I know that well.Luckily,english is not a case-sensitive language.

Best regards

Re: direct object indirect object object of a preposition help me! plz

ClarkePeters — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 17:12:39 GMT

This post is a little dated but since I've been working with my students on this very topic I thought I'd post.

First, you can't understand what the "object of the preposition" is if you don't first know how to identify prepositions. So you need to find a list (google "list prepositions English" or "frequency list prepositions English") and you should get plenty of lists. Depending on which list you go by, there are from 80 to 130 or so prepositions. Most are not used too often, so I'd get a frequency list and try to learn the first 50 or so.   That may sound like a lot of words, but compared to the number of words in Webster's 500,000 word dictionary, that's really very few words--and they are SO IMPORTANT to understanding sentence structure. If you don't want to memorize, no problem, just keep a list with you at all times.

When you come across a word from the list, check to see if it has an object by asking "what" after the preposition.
              John called about the party.
              about what? the party,
              so "party" or "the party" if you include the article, is the object of the preposition.

Be careful, prepositions sometimes act as adverbs.
John got up and went to the kitchen.
up what? ---ummmm, no answer, there is NO object, so "up" is an adverb to "got"

as for DO, ask "what" after the verb.

John made a cake.
John made what? a cake
DO is cake

as for IO, ask "to whom/what?" or "for whom/what?" after the DO
John made Mary a cake.
John made what? a cake
DO is cake
a cake for whom? for Mary
IO is Mary.

The following sentences are exactly the same in meaning! (except maybe in emphasis)

John made Mary a cake.         common usage
John made for Mary a cake.   NOT common usage, but technically
                                                  correct, sometimes used for emphasis
John made a cake for Mary.    common usage

same with "to"
John gave Mary a cake.
John gave to Mary a cake.   NOT common usage
John gave a cake to Mary.

some grammarians will say that an IO can ONLY be between the verb and DO.
Other linguists say functionally there is no difference, so it is OK to say that "to Mary" or "for Mary" is the IO. However, others will argue that they are adverbials answering the question where (to) or why (for) about the verb (made why? for Mary    gave where? to Mary).
How one describes it is not important, as they all function the same.

Re: In the following sentence ''He'' is subject, ''is'' is a...

CalifJim — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 02:22:28 GMT

Categories or Parts of Speech

he - pronoun
he - noun phrase (NP)*
is - verb
a - article
nice - adjective
person - noun
a nice person - noun phrase (NP)*
is a nice person - verb phrase (VP)*

*These designations come from a system of analysis called 'transformational grammar'.

Functions

he - subject
is - copula
a - determiner
nice - modifier
person - complement
a nice person - complement
is a nice person - predicate

At the highest level of functional analysis, each sentence has simply a subject and a predicate; the predicate is everything in the sentence except the subject.

The same part of speech (category), particularly nouns, can be used with different functions. For example a noun can act as a subject, a subject complement, a direct object, an indirect object, an object complement, the object of a preposition, or a modifier. In grammatical analysis the different kinds of terminology shown above are often mixed. The same component in a sentence may have several different names. Also, the same term may be used both as a category and as a function. The word verb, for example, is often used both to mean a part of speech and as the name of its function in the sentence. There are often many different terms that apply to the same word or group of words. The terms selected depend on the type of analysis which is being done.

CJ

Re: Writing a sentence with an Indirect Object.

Clive — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 16:39:16 GMT

Hi,

I need to write a sentence in the following pattern, and I don't see how it's possible.

The pattern is: adjective + direct object + helping verb + subject + verb

No articles allowed?

So, something like 'Great strength did he use'. This kind of odd word order seems very literary or poetical. This doesn't seem like a typical every-day English grammar exercise.

If you can add other parts of speech, you could look at normal questions, eg Which red sweater did she buy?

(As regards your thread title, this is not really an exercise that deals with indirect objects)

Best wishes, Clive

Re: labelling

Mister Micawber — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 07:14:04 GMT

Briefly (and reasonably accurately), the direct object receives the action of the verb, while the indirect object receives the benefit of the action:

I bought my wife a new can opener.

I -- Subject
bought -- Verb
my wife -- Indirect object: I didn't buy my wife, I bought a can opener, but she receives the benefit of my purchase.
a new can opener -- Direct object: this is directly what was purchased.

The new coach seems determined and competent

The new coach -- Subject (a noun phrase containing the definite article the and the adjective new)
seems -- (Linking) Verb
determined, competent -- Predicate adjectives
and -- Coordinating Conjunction for the compound predicate, determined and competent.

Re: The meaning of 'Gonna'

Anonymous — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 07:43:18 GMT

What is the word sucks in "Homework sucks"? Is it a verb or an adjective? If it is a verb, what does homework suck?

This brings up an excellent point, and a wonderful opportunity to discover the beautiful syntactic structure of the English language. The question at hand is "Does an English verb need to have an object?" Consider the simple construction, "I eat" (Subject-ActionVerb). It is a coherent English thought; there is no need to express what is eaten. Just because an English sentence contains an action verb does not mean an object of that action must occur. The neat thing is, though, that it can occur and the thought is just as coherent. "I eat pizza" (Subject-ActionVerb-Object) is an equally logical thought.

Action verbs that have an object of their action are said to be transitive, while those that do not are said to be intransitive. Objects can receive the action of their verb either directly or indirectly. An object which is indirectly acted upon only occurs when there is one which is directly acted upon as well. Objects which receive their verb's action directly are said to be direct, whereas those which receive it indirectly are said to be indirect. In the sentence "I baked them pizza," pizza is a direct object, and them is an indirect object.

We have observed three fundamental patterns of the English language:
                        Subject-IntransitiveVerb                                              (S-InV)                I eat.
                        Subject-TransitiveVerb-DirectObject                          (S-TrV-DO)         I eat pizza.
                        Subject-TransitiveVerb-IndirectObject-DirectObject (S-TrV-IO-DO)    I bake them pizza.

As it turns out, the entire English language follows only about six different fundamental patterns, depending on how you count them. Essentially, there are only three more. I find this fascinating, so here I have written a short exposition on the topic. I intend to learn as much from those who view this forum as they can learn from me, so please read, enjoy (hopefully), and critique it.

        An Inquiry into the Syntactical Structure of the English Language

Fundamental Parts of Speech
There exist various schemes that depict the fundamental parts of speech in the English language. The underlying assumption of them all is that every English word can be classified into a fairly small number of categories. According to a word's inherent qualities these are somewhat nebulous, but according to how the word is used in a sentence they our definitive. The scheme I adopt here models English words in seven divisions: nouns* (N), verbs (V), adjectives** (Adj), adverbs (Adv), prepositions (Prep), conjunctions (Conj), and interjections (Interj). No attempt will be put forth to define these whether operationally or inherently. That being beyond the scope of this work
*Nouns in this work refers to both nouns and pronouns. Though they constitute two distinct categories they are used virtually interchangeably distinguishable only by the inherent qualities they possess. (A point in which syntax is largely uninterested.)
**This class contains what other schemes might divide into the categories of articles, determiners, qualifiers, modifying nouns, etc.
A Steal Framework
Again the various models of English syntax would number the fundamental patterns differently. I have adopted a scheme of six. The patterns are concerned only with two parts of speech: verbs and nouns. They form a sort of a metal framework upon which the rest of the fundamental part bestow their graces connecting and decorating it into a beautiful masterpiece. I model English nouns as possessing eight unique functions (subject (S), direct object (DO), indirect object (IO), objective complement (OC), subjective complement (SC), object of the preposition (OP), noun of direct address (DA), and appositive (App)) and English verbs as possessing four unique functions (action verb*, linking verb (LV), state of being verb (Be), helping verb** (Aux)). Only the first five of the noun functions and the first three of the verb functions are used in constructing the patterns. The rest are added on later for decoration.
*As it has been aforementioned actions verbs are either transitive verbs (TrV), possessing objects, or intransitive verbs (InV), not possessing objects.
**Helping verbs also known as auxiliary verbs or simply auxiliaries serve solely to aid the one main verb of a syntactic pattern in expressing such complexities as tense, mood, or voice. Unlike other languages, English verb ending are unable to accomplish this consisting of only four principle parts with little variation or no variation for person or number. Rarely will you find a verb written more than four ways.

The Fundamental Syntactic Patterns
Some schemes include adjective and adverb elements. I do not, however, because I do not consider them the pegs on which other elements can hang. They are merely filler. I have put alternate examples in boldface type for where some find grounds for other patterns.

                                            1. S-Be*                    I am. or I am here.
                                            2. S-LV-SC*,*              I am Daniel. or I am good.
                                            3. S-InV                         I eat.
                                            4. S-TrV-DO*                I eat pizza.
                                            5. S-TrV-IO-DO*        I bake them pizza.
                                            6. S-TrV-DO-OC*,*    I consider pizza food. or I find pizza tasty.
* "I am here," or, "I am of the tribe of Benjamin," are examples of an adverb element on the S-Be pattern. Under some schemes this would be a new pattern, S-be-Adv. The adverb element, often referred to as the adverbial modifies the verb indicating where or when.
*The subjective complement is the completer of the subject. If it is an adjective it is called the predicate adjective (PA). If it is a noun it is called the predicate nominative or noun (PN). As a noun it is said to rename the subject (Daniel). As a adjective it is said to modify the subject (good). Under some schemes these two cases form distinct patterns (S-LV-PN and S-LV-PA).
*Depending on whether or not the definition of linking verb is broadened to include the state of being verbs, a separate pattern (S-be-SC) is often employed which in turn is typically divided into the two distinct patterns (S-be-PA and S-be-PN).
*Both direct and indirect objects are considered to be predicate complements (PC). So the distinction between them is sometimes lost and these patterns can be depicted S-TrV-PC, S-TrV-PC-PC, and S-TrV-PC-OC with the former two occasionally fusing into one pattern (S-TrV-PC).
*Sometimes a distinction is made between an objective complement that functions as a noun (pizza), objective noun (ON), and one that functions as a adjective (tasty), objective adjective (OA). Thus two distinct patterns are formed (S-TrV-DO-ON and S-TrV-DO-OA).

Whether or not it is wise to exclude the patterns S-Be-Adv, S-LV-PA, and S-TrV-OA, I do not know, but since I maintain that the fundamental syntactic units are composed of certain nouns and verbs I will. For now the other parts of speech and remaining nouns and verbs are for filling out the framework.

The Decorations and Connections
The remaining verbs, helping/auxiliary verbs (Aux), come before the verbs in the patterns and give them tense. Of the remaining nouns, nouns of direct address (DA) are when you address the person you are talking two by name, appositives come right after one of the nouns in the fundamental patterns and serve to rename them, and objects of the preposition are the words the prepositions (Prep) are relating to the rest of the sentence. Prepositions (Prep) then relate nouns to the rest of the sentence. Conjunction (Conj) join elements whether they be fundamental patterns, subject, or verbs. Interjections (Interj) do just that. Butt in breaking the flow of everything. Adjectives (Adj) modify nouns, and adverbs (Adv) modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.

These nine links and flesh may simply be one word or, as four of them (OP, App, Adj, and Adv) often are, be expanded into multiword units composed themselves of smaller units which in turn are linked to other units. Thus you have the massive interlocking structure of the English language.

What are these large units with in units though? They are either clauses or phrases.

Clauses
Clause contain both a subject and a verb but cannot stand alone as a complete thought. They are one of the fundamental units fleshed out. They come in three varieties those that will function as an adverb (Adv), those that will function as a adjective (Adj), and those that will function as a noun (not just OP and App, but the fundamental makeup of the patterns S, DO, IO, OC, and PN/SC).

Phrases:*
Phrases certain either a subject or a verb, but not both. The prepositional phrase--the unit Prep-OP (sometimes fleshed out with other elements)--functions as either an Adj, Adv, or a N. There are three phrase which are one of the six or nine depending on how you look at it fundamental patterns with the S severed from them. The gerund phrase is the one in which the main verb must be in the second principle part** and functions as a N. The participle phrase is the one in which the main verb must be in the second or fourth principle part** and functions as an Adj. The infinitive phrase is the one in which the verb must be in the infinitive (nearly synonymous with the first principle part** and functions as an Adj, Adv, or a N. A fifth and unusual type of phrase functions as a modifier (Adj or Adv) of the entire sentence, and is composed of a noun followed by a participial phrase.
*Sometimes the classifications of phrases are broadened to include a noun phrase, verb phrase, adjective phrase, adverb phrase, and appositive phrase. However, I will abstain from such a measure because noun phrases are just simply any of the five above which can function as a N, appositive phrases are just simply any of the five above which can function as an appositive (a N), adjective phrases are just any of the five above which can function as Adj, adverb phrases are just simply any of the five above which can function as Adv, and verb phrases are just the verb of the six fundamental patterns with its auxiliaries.
**Sometimes English verbs are depicted as having three principle parts, (1) present, (2) past, and (3) past participle, presumably because the present participle of all English verbs is the present + -ing. However, the scheme used here is that which depicts four principle parts, (1) present, (2) present participle, (3) past, (4) past participle, which can be derived from the infinitive [to . . .] by asking the four questions (1) Today, [I/we, you, he/she/it/they] . . .Currently, [I/we, you, he/she/it/they] [to be] . . . , (3) Yesterday, [I/we, you, he/she/it/they] . . . , (4) Previously, [I/we, you, he/she/it/they] [to have] . . . of the infinitive.

Re: Another doubt

CalifJim — Tue, 22 Feb 2005 02:34:59 GMT

"We'll send you them back" is not a particularly felicitous construction!

For the most idiomatic patterns, you'll need one of these:

We send the letter to John.
We send John the letter.

We send it to John.
(Not: We send John it.)

We send the letter to him.
We send him the letter.

We send it to him.
(Not: We send him it.)

We send the letter back to John.

We send it back to John.

We send the letter back to him.

We send it back to him.

I think this amounts to saying that when the direct object is pronomialized it must occur before the indirect object, which must then be expressed in a "to"-phrase, and if a phrasal verb (like "send back") is involved, the particle ("back") must occur before the "to"-phrase which introduces the indirect object.

Others: I'll bring it down to him. NOT: I'll bring him it down. NOR I'll bring down it to him. ETC.

Does that sound right?

Re: Sentence analyze

hela — Fri, 28 Jan 2005 19:30:50 GMT

Hello everyone,

I like to do sentence analyses, so if you could sometimes send us some exercises on the matter they will be very welcome.

A/ Here is MY analysis:

1) She is so pretty a girl.

a) parts of speech:

she = nominative personal pronoun
is = fintie verb
so = adverb of intensity
pretty = predicative adjective
a = indefinite article
girl = noun

b) function:

she = subject (NP)
is = copular verb (VP)
so pretty a girl = subject-complement (?) (NP?)

2) He is too bright a student to study with me.

a) parts of speech:

he = nominative personal pronoun
is = finite verb
too = adverb of intensity
bright = predicative adjective
a = indefinite article
student = noun
to study = non-finite verb
with = preposition
me = accusative personal pronoun

b) function:

he = subject
is = copular verb
too bright a student = subject-complement (NP?)
to study with me = adverbial of purpose ??? (PP ?)

3) How smart a student he is.

a) parts of speech:

how = adverb ??
smart = attributive adjective
a = ind. art.
student = noun
he = nominative pers. pron.
is = verb

b) function:

How smart a student = subject-complement ? (NP ?)
he = subject ?
is = copula

4) In spite of his hangover, he got up at seven.

a) parts of speech:

in spite of = subordinating conjunction
his = possessive adjective
hangover = noun
he = nominative pers. pron.
got = finite verb
up = proposition
at = preposition
seven = numeral / cardinal number ?

b) function:

he = subject (NP)
got up = intransitive verb (VP)
at seven = adverbial of time (PP)
in spite of his hangover = ??

B/ What do you think of the following ?

5) She bought herself five pounds of chocolate for her birthday.

a) parts of speech:

she = subject / nominative personal pronoun
bought = ditransitive verb
herself = reflexive pronoun
five = determinative adjective / cardinal number ?
pounds = noun
of = preposition
chocolate = noun
for = preposition
her = possessive adjective
birthday = noun

b)sentence pattern:

She = subject
Bought = verb
Herself = indirect object
Five pounds of chocolate = direct object
For her birthday = adverbial of time OR adverbial of purpose ?

Thank you very much in advance for your correction.
All the best,
Hela

Re: Sentence analysis

hela — Sun, 16 Jan 2005 13:19:46 GMT

Hello,

Nobody replied to my previous post, but I hope someone will for this one

1) The representative told the press a lie out of fear of retribution.

Parts of speech:

The = definite article
Representative = noun
Told = ditransitive verb
Press = noun
A = indefinite article
Lie = noun
Out of = complex preposition
Fear = noun
Of = preposition
Retribution = noun

Sentence elements:

The representative = subject
Told = verb
The press = indirect object
A lie = direct object
Out of fear of retribution = adverbial of reason

2) Children should watch less television.

Parts of speech:

Children = noun
Should = modal auxiliary
Watch = transitive verb
Less = comparative adjective (?)
Television = noun

Sentence elements:

Children = subject (noun phrase)
Should watch = verb (verb phrase)
Less television = direct object (?) (noun phrase)

3) We walked five miles to a garage.

Parts of speech:

We = subjective personal pronoun
Walked = intransitive verb (?)
Five = determinative adjective / cardinal numeral (?)
Miles = nouns
To = preposition
A = definite pronoun
Garage = noun

Sentence elements:

We = subject
Walked = verb
Five miles = adverbial (?)
To a garage = adverbial of place

See you for another post,
Hela