The document defines and discusses indirect objects in sentences. It outlines two patterns for sentences with indirect objects - the prepositional pattern and dative movement pattern. It examines factors that determine which pattern is suitable, such as animacy, verb meaning, and presence of a pronominal direct object. The document also discusses how indirect objects are used in discourse based on principles of given-new information and end weight. It provides examples and exercises to illustrate these concepts.

1. Indirect object
Prepared by: Mohamed AIT
MADANI YOUSSEF
Dr. Youssef Tamer Prof. Jennifer
Evans:

2. Outline
 Definition
 Sentences with indirect object: two patterns
 Sentences with indirect object in discourse
 Problems that ESL/ EFL students have with IO
 Exercise
 Activity

3. Definition
An indirect object is a word or a group
of words that tells to whom or to what
something has been done.

4. I. Sentences with IO: two patterns

5. Prepositional pattern
 Inthis pattern the IO (the goal) comes
after the DO (the theme) and it is
preceded by the preposition to.

6.  An Example for illustration:
DO Preposition IO
I sent an email to the teacher.

7. there are kind of verbs that have IO
preceded by other prepostions like:
 Verbs that have IO preceded by the
preposition for.
 I call a taxi for my friend.

8. Sentences with for dative verbs can have
two meanings:
1. The subject performs the action
indicated by the verb as a favor for the
IO.
2. The subject performs the action
because the IO can not do it.

9. Verbs that have IO preceded by the
preposition of such as ask and
require.
 We asked a question of the child.

10. Dative movement pattern
Indirect object occurs between the verb
and the direct object and the preposition
is omitted.
I gave the book to Brahim.
I gave Brahim the book.

11. Factors that restrict the possible pattern
Sentences with IO can accept the two
patterns or just one of them.
There are several factors that
determine which pattern is the most
suitable.

12. The first factor
Animacy of subject and indirect object

13. for both patterns to work, the subject
and the indirect object should be an
animate.
But if this is not the case, sentences
can generally take only one pattern.

14. e.g
 The rain brought disaster to the farmer.
 The rain brought the farmer disaster.
incorrect

15. However, it is possible to find sentences
with both patterns in which the subject or the
indirect object is an inanimate.
But the verb in this case has not an action
meaning.

16. e.g
 The justices give a literal interpretation to the
constitution.(prepositional pattern)
 The justices give the constitution a literal
interpretation.(dative movement pattern)

17. The second factor
The effect of verb meaning

18. Verbs that ordinarily take two patterns may in
some cases be possible only with one pattern.
e.g
 I owe five bucks to larry.
Two patterns
I owe larry five bucks.

19. I owe my progress to my father one pattern

20. The third factor
Verbs that are restricted to one
pattern

21.  Verbs that are only or usually appear with
dative movement pattern.
Some verbs like allow, bet, forgive, envy, and
others appear only in the dative movement
pattern:
 No one envies you that task.
 No one envies that task to you.

22.  Verbs that appear only in the
preposional pattern.
Not all to dative verbs and for dative verbs
can take the dative movement
pattern.Those
that don’t are restricted to the prepositional
pattern.

23. Common verbs that appear only in the
prepositional pattern:
To dative verbs for dative verbs
Confess,admit,declare,deliver,contribute,
answer,cash,capture,create,eat;repeat
Strate,donate, and many others. Select,correct,fix, and many others.

24. The fourth factor
Pronominal direct object

25. Both the DO and the IO can be pronouns.
When the DO is a pronoun used in place
of an NP with a definite article, the
sentence cannot occur in the dative
movement pattern
 Iman gave the CD to Idriss.
 Iman gave Idriss it.

26. This does not hold if the DO is a pronoun
such as one or some used in place of NP
with an indefinite article.
 Aziz sent a presentation to his
classmates.
 Aziz sent his classmates one.

27. It also does not hold if the DO is a
demonstrative pronoun used to replace an
NP with a demonstrative determiner.
 Tofik gave that t-shirt to Jawad.
 Tofik gave Jawad that.

28. Excercise
For each sentence, decide what pronoun
corresponds to the underlined NP and indicate
whether that pronoun could replace the NP.
1. He loaned her a watch.
2. She handed him the flowers.
3. He lent her some gloves.
4. Ali passed him the salt.
5. I give her those pictures.

29. Answers
1. He loaned her a watch.(one. Yes)
2. She handed him the flowers.(them. No)
3. He lent her some gloves.(some. Yes)
4. Ali passed him the salt.(it. No)
5. I give her those pictures.(those. Yes)

30. II. Sentences with indirect object in
discourse

31. Sentences with IO occur in daily
conversation.
And the choice of the suitable pattern
is determined by two information
structuring principles:

32. Sentences with indirect object in
discourse
1. The Given-new contract
and IO
This states that given or mentioned
information should appear before new
Information.

33. Sentences with indirect object in
discourse
use
DO was given prepositional pattern
use
IO was given dative movement
pattern

34. E.g
Susan: I can’t figure out what to get John for
his birthday. Any idea?
Ann: give him a CD. You know how much he
likes music.

35. Sentences with indirect object in
discourse
2. End weight
A long, complex, heavy NP should not
appear in the middle of a clause
 Mrs. Jennifer gave the list of the
students who are selected to
attend the conference to us.

36. Sentences with indirect object in
discourse
 Mrs. Jennifer gave us the list of the
students who are selected to attend
the conference.

37. Sentences with indirect object in
discourse
End weight and avoidance of
ambiguity
We move the long DO to the end to
avoid ambiguity.
 The man bought a rocking chair that
Frank had spent all summer restoring
for his mother.

38. Sentences with indirect object in
discourse
We don’t know whether Frank restore the
chair for his mother or that the man bought
it for his mother. But if we say:
 The man bought his mother a rocking chair
that Frank had spent all summer restoring.

39. Sentences with indirect object in
discourse
End weight and verbs that
don’t take Dative Movement.
The problem raises when we have a
complex NP as a DO of a verb that don’t
take dative movement pattern.

40. Sentences with indirect object in
discourse
As a solution many writers choose to
move
the long direct object NP to the end of the
Sentence.
 Hassan demonstrated the method for
fixing a carburetor that Hamza taught him
to his friend.

41. Sentences with indirect object in
discourse
 Hassan demonstrated to his friend the
method for fixing a carburetor that Hamza
taught him.
prep + IO + DO

42. Excercise
For each discourse choose (A) or (B) as a completion and explain
your choice.
Example: do you see Hayda?
A . I have just sent him a message.
B . I have just sent a message to him.
Answer: A; because it puts the old information before the new one.
1. I want to attend the birthday party of Mr.Omar so I decided to:
A . buy him a t-shirt.
B . buy a t-shirt for him.

43. Excercise
2. There were two items on the table a package and a letter.where
are They?
A .I sent Hamza the package and Salwa the letter.
B . I sent the package to Hamza and the letter to Salwa.
3. Fred wanted to make a good impression on his first date with
Susan so he decided to:
A .bring her some flowers.
B .bring some flowers to her

44. Answers
1. (A) because it puts given information (him) before the new one
(message).
2. (B) since it puts the already mentioned information before the
new one.
3. (A) because it puts the old information (her) before the new
one (some flowers).

45. Problems that EFL/ESL have with
IO
Students are influenced by thier L1
when they move from one pattern
to the other.

46. E.g
In Arabic we say:
‫.اشتريت الحلوى لحمزة‬
 I bought the sweet for Hamza.(correct)
‫.اشتريت لحمزة الحلوى‬
 I bought for Hamza the sweet.(incorrect)

47. Tell and say(German)
in English, the verb tell takes two pattern; while say take only the
prepositional pattern. But students whose mother tongue is German
may use the verb sagen (say) not only in the sense of say but also in
the sense of tell.
They are influenced by the structure of their language and come up
with sentences like:
a. He said me her name. Incorrect
b. He said to her she should come.
c. He told to Judith, ’’i am coming’’.

48. The activity

49.  Read the text carefully and find out the mistakes
(indirect object) and correct them.
Amals’s accident was on Monday. Her classmates
wanted to give a hand of help to her but they didn’t
know what to do. “I know what we can do” said
Zakaria. “We can collect some money for her.” “Good
idea.” Replied Mohamed. Another student says “I will
send her a message to know whether we have the
possibility to visit her or no.” “If it is not possible to visit
her we will send her our wishes for recovery with one
girl who is living in the same resident.” The next day
Nadia started to gather the gifts. When she finished
she gave her them. And she brought good news about
Amal to her classmates.

50.  Her
classmates wanted to give her a
hand of help…
 We can collect her some money.
 she gave them to her.