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Complementation of the Verb Verbs like to give, to offer, to hand, to lend, to promise, to grant, to pass, to rent, to fetch, to forward,

to show, to send, to tell, to owe require an IO as recipient: Bring the book to me! Forward the letter to the manager! Show the place to the visitors! Give some money to the beggar! Verbs like: to buy, to find, to make, to order, to cook, to keep, to prepare require an IO as beneficiary They found my purse for me. Mother cooked dinner for the family. She kept the oranges for the children. As you have noticed, the IO can take the prepositions to and for depending on the verb it is associated with and the kind of IO the speaker refers to, recipient or beneficiary. c) But there are some verbs which can be followed either by to or for depending on the meaning the speaker wants to convey. Verbs like: to read, to write, to sing, to play, to leave, to do may occur in sentences like: 1. a) The pupils read the lesson to the teacher. b) Read the letter for me. In example a) the action is directed towards the person, while in example b) the action of reading is performed by someone else instead of me, so the person does a favour to the indirect object. Similarly, in the case of: 2. a) Write a postcard to your friends. b) Write your phone number for me. A group of verbs are always followed by only the to-indirect object: to ascribe to, to prescribe to, to dictate to, to explain to, to describe to, to mention to, to introduce to, to suggest to: The doctor prescribed medicine to the patient. Dont mention my name to him. She suggested to me to leave the room. Introduce yourself to your colleagues. Ordering the Direct and Indirect Object The pupils offered flowers to the teachers. The pupils offered the teachers flowers. NOTE! The exception to the rule are the verbs to ascribe, to prescribe etc., which always require a to-prepositional IO. She described the landscape to the pupils. She described to the pupils the landscape. Other Ditransitive Verbs with Two Objects Within double complementation, there are verbs which require an object (direct or indirect) and another one which isprepositional. Such verbs do not admit variations as they are given in the dictionary with their full constituents: to accuse somebody of something, to assure somebody of something, to blame somebody for something, to congratulate somebody on something, to prevent somebody from something, to punish somebody for something, to rob somebody of something, to warn somebody of something a) They accused the man of murder. b) They punished the driver for his negligence. c) Parents warn their children of their duties. Another small category of the same type: to assure somebody of something, to convince somebody of something, to inform somebody of something, to remind somebody of something are considered to have a IO which is compulsory and a prepositional object. a) They assured me of their help. b) They convinced me of their good will. c) He reminded me of his plans. In these cases, the IO becomes subject of the passive sentence: a) I was assured of their help. b) I was convinced of their good will. c) I was reminded of his plans. In both cases, be it an active sentence or a passive sentence, the prepositional object must be expressed.

The Prepositional Object Verbs like: to add to, to approve of, to agree to, to believe in, to complain of, to consent to, to depend on, to hint at, to hope for, toinsist on, to object to, to rely on, to refer to, to think of, to succeed in,to worry about require that the object be expressed: a) No one will approve of his plan. b) They hoped for the better. c) She insisted on going there. d) You can rely on your friends. e) Everything depends on the weather. Passive sentences are possible only in case a, b, and d the preposition being placed at the end of the sentence. a) His plan will not be approved of. b) The better is hoped for. c) *Going there was insisted on. d) Your friends can be relied on. e) *The weather is depended on. Complex Constructions a) I saw John. (DO) b) I saw John leave the house. c) I saw John leaving the house. The Accusative + Infinitive occurs after certain groups of verbs: a) verbs of perception always followed by a short infinitive: to see, to hear, to feel, to watch, to notice, to observe She heard him slam the door. We watched them play. b) the verb to let also followed by the short infinitive He let us enter the building. c) verbs that have a causative function: to make, to get, to have also followed by short infinitive I made them change their mind. We had them help us. Ill get him to do it for me. d) verbs of wishing, liking or disliking as: to wish, to want, to like, to hate, to prefer, to fancy, followed by toinfinitive He wishes us to be there on time. Fancy him to have arrived. He meant it for me to do the job. e) verbs of mental activity and opinion as: to think, to believe, to consider, to understand, to know, to suppose, to imagine Nobody imagined it to have happened. They thought the problem to be a puzzle. We know him to be a wise man. f) verbs of order, request and compelling as: to ask, to beg, to tell, to order, to compel, to request, to advise, to recommend, to persuade, to force They advised us not to take a taxi. The doctor recommended me to spend a day outdoors. They told the man to leave right then. g) verbs of permitting and interdicting as: to allow, to permit, to forbid, followed by to-infinitive The parents allowed the children to play outside. Nobody forbids you to work. h) the verbs: to expect, to teach, to instruct, to warn, to urge They expected Mary to do the job. They urged us to leave the town. Accusative + Past Participle This construction is restricted to a limited number of verbs which have also been used in the other constructions. a) verbs of perception: to see, to hear, to feel They saw the villages deserted. He heard the name called.

Alice felt herself become smaller. b) the verbs to want, to wish, to like, to prefer, to find She wanted the work done. They liked their house freshly painted. They found the horse shot. c) causative verbs as: to make, to get, to have, to get She made her presence felt. Have this done by 3 oclock, please. She got her hair done.

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