UNIT 6 – DIRECT, INDIRECT AND PREPOSITIONAL OBJECTS

6.1 THE DIRECT OBJECT (Od)

It is the most central of all constituents after the subject and the predicator

6.1.1 SYNTACTIC AND SEMANTIC FEATURES

 It occurs only in transitive clauses with transitive verbs: hit, buy, send
 It goes right after the predicator, but it follows the Oi if there is one.
o I have sent the letters
o I have sent you all (Oi) a letter (Od)
 It is typically realised by a NG, as in I know the truth, but it may also be realised by embedded clauses,
as in I know what you mean
 It can be ‘promoted’ to become subject in a passive clause
o The letters (S) have been sent.
 They can be tested for, by Wh-questions (Who(m), What? Which? How much/many?) and by clefts
o What did you send?
o What I send where the letters (wh-cleft)

SEMANTIC FEATURES

 It is associated with several semantic roles in which ‘affectedness’ is not a feature and with many
types of verbs
o He headed the ball into the goal (Affected)
o The burglars used a crowbar to break into the house (Instrument)
o I felt chills all over my body (Phenomenon)
o The government wants to give a push to the economy and employment (Range)
o He swam the Mediterranean sea (Affected Locative)
 The highly non-prototypical Range Ods include have a rest/smoke/drink; take a sip/nap; give a
kick/nudge; do a dance; and many others. The NG in these cases is a deverbal noun (i.e. derived from
the verb) which follows a verb that is ‘light’ in semantic content such as have.
 Speech act deverbal nouns such as promise and warning are commonly used as Ods
o She made a promise
o They issued a warning letter

6.1.2 Realisations of the Direct Object

The Od can be realised by groups and clauses.

A. Nominal Group. This is the Od typical realisation, ranging from a pronoun 1 or proper name to full NGs 2. A
longer and more complex NGs may also be possible in certain registers 3.
1) I don’t understand that.
2) Have you read the newspaper article I sent you?
3) Poaching is threatening the world’s remaining population of whales.

A few verbs take untypical Ods such as have (They have two dogs), cost (It costs twenty euros), lack (He lacks
ideas), resemble (He resembles his grandfather), fit (Do these pants fit me?), suit (That colour suits you well),
weigh (She weighs sixty kilos), contain (That box contains your gift), and measure (It measures one metre by
two). These verbs don’t passivize, but their Ods pass the wh-cleft test: What he lacks is ideas.

B. Anticipatory it. It is necessary as an ‘anticipatory Od’ in SPOdCO structures in which the Od is realised by a
finite or non-finite clause:
C. Prepositional Phrase of time or place

I would prefer before midday for the doctor’s appointment

Don’t choose by the river for camping

D. Finite Clause.
Two types:
 Nominal that-clauses (that often omitted in informal English)
o They fear that there may be many casualties. (nominal that-clause)
 Wh-clauses
o No-one knows what his job is (wh-clause)
o You can do whatever you want (wh-nominal clause)

Both that-clauses and wh-clauses at Od can sometimes become a subject in a passive clause and then
extraposed:

It is feared that there may be many casualties (extraposed cl.)

It is not known what his job is.

A more reliable test is the wh-cleft paraphrase

I wonder whether they know the result.

*whether they know is wondered.
What I wonder is whether they know the result.

E. Non-finite clause.

Two types:
 Infinitive clauses (with or without to)
o Many people prefer to travel by plane
 -Ing clauses
o Mane people prefer travelling by plane

Such clauses can be an embedded Od based on the following criteria:

 The non-finite clause can be replaced by a NG (prefer the plane) or by it/that (prefer it).
 The non-finite clause can be made the focus of a wh-cleft sentence
o What many people prefer is to travel/travelling by plane

Many embedded clauses at Od occur with an explicit subject of their own (when the implicit subject is not the
same of the main clause):

 To-infinitive clause
o The population wants to have clean streets (implicit subject – they)
o The population wants the government to solve the rubbish problem (explicit subject -the
government)
 -ing-clause
o Do you mind waiting outside (with implicit subject)
o Do you mind me/my waiting outside? (with explicit subject in objective or possessive case)
 to- infinitive or -ing clause
 o She loves telling the truth (implicit subject)
o She loves people telling the truth (explicit subject)
o She loves for people to tell the truth (for + explicit subject + to-inf) (AmE)

*Non-finite clauses are very non-prototypical Ods as they represent situations, not entities and do not easily
passivize. However, many can become the focus of a wh-cleft

What she loves is people telling the truth.

6.2 THE INDIRECT OBJECT (Oi)

6.2.1 Syntactic and Semantic Features

 It occurs only with verbs that take 2 objects (give, send). Its position is between the verb and the Od:
o I sent him an e-mail
 It is typically realised by a NG, but occasionally by a wh-nominal clause.
 It is associated with 2 semantic roles: recipient and beneficiary or ‘intended recipient’.

In passives, the Recipient Oi corresponds to the subject.

 Both Recipient and beneficiary Oi have an optional prepositional paraphrase (Op). for the Recipient,
the preposition is to, for the Beneficiary it is for.
o The doctor gave oxygen to the injured man I’ll buy drinks for you all.
o She lent a few CDs to her neighbour He got the tickets for us all.
 The Oi can generally be left unexpressed without affecting the grammaticality of the clause
o The doctor gave oxygen I’ll buy the drinks
o He doesn’t like lending his CDs He got the tickets

6.2.2 Realisations of the Indirect Object

Both Recipient and Beneficiary Ois are typically realised by NGs and less typically by wh- nominal relative
clauses.

The postman handed her the letter (Recip./NG)

You can lend the book to whoever needs it (Recip./nom. Relative cl.)
Tom has booked all his friends rooms for the weekend in Paris (Ben./NG)

More marginally, a recipient Oi can be realised by a non-finite -ing clause or a PP, but not in the case of a
Beneficiary Oi, which always refers to an entity:

I’m giving using social networks less interest lately (-ing cl)
Let’s give after the break more preference (PP)

6.3 PREPOSITIONAL VERBS AND THE PREPOSITIONAL COMPLEMENT (PC) or OBJECT (OP)
Many common verbs in English take a specific preposition. They are called prepositional verbs. The preposition
+ the following NG are often analysed as the Prepositional Complement (PC). Alternatively, the verb and
preposition are seen as a whole and the following NG as the Object mediated by a preposition (PO).

My neighbour looked after my dog

You can rely on Tom in case of an incident

All these examples have in common:

 The NG following the preposition encodes a participant in the clause structure
 The preposition is associated with a particular verb (prepositional verb).
 Without the preposition, the clause would either be:
o Ungrammatical: *look at my dog, *rely Tom
o Or have a different meaning: see to the kids (attend to them), as opposed to see the kids
 The preposition can’t be replaced by another one without changing the meaning (look after the dog,
look for the dog, look at the dog)

6.3.1 Types of verb + preposition combinations

 Type A (take after)

This combination functions as a lexical unit in which the verb + the preposition has a different meaning from
their separate words. ‘Take after’ has nothing to do with take, nor with the usual meaning of ‘after’.

I came across some old toys (find) He takes after his father (resemble)
Paul has come into a fortune (inherit) I’ve gone off milk (lose the liking of)

 Type B (rely + on)

This is a less idiomatic combination. Verbs in this group - account for (explain), refer to, tamper with (interfere
with) – are not used without their specific preposition.

How do you account for their lack of interest in the country’s politics?
Someone has been tampering with the printer.

 Type C (laugh + at)

It represents a special use (usually with a distinctive meaning) of a verb that can function without the
preposition such as laugh (at), look (at), believe (in)

Look at me Wait for his answers I heard of a good piece of news.

Syntactic behaviour of prepositional verbs

Applying some of the constituency tests, we find the following:

 Type A: the verb + prep. Behave syntactically as one unit, whereas the PP ‘after the dog’ does not in
fronting, focus of a cleft, wh-question adverb insertion

Acceptable Unacceptable
Fronting: My dog Luke looked after *After my do Luke looked
Focus of a cleft It’s my dog (that) my neighbour *it’s after my dog (that) my neighbour looked.
looked after.
Wh-question Whose dog did my neighbour *After whose dog did my neighbour look?
look after?
Adverb insertion My neighbour looked after my ?My neighbour looked carefully after my dog
dog carefully
  Type B: the PP can function as an independent unit, but the effect is marked and very formal

Formal Informal
Fronting: On Tom you can rely Tom you can rely on
Focus of a cleft It’s on Tom (that) you can rely It’s Tom you can rely on
Wh-question On whom can you rely? Who can you rely on?
Adverb insertion You can totally rely on Tom Who can you totally rely on?

 Type C: syntactically, the PP functions in the same way as type B. however, the formal variant is at
odds with the type of verb that usually falls into this group

Formal Informal
Fronting: At John the partners laughed John the partners laughed at
Focus of a cleft It was John that they laughed It was John that they laughed at
Wh-question At whom did the partners laugh? Who did the partners laugh at?

6.3.2 STRANDING THE PREPOSITION

The preposition is stranded when it stays close to its verb, that is, it is displaced from its position in a PP. This
can also occur in passive clauses and in relative clauses.

Non-stranded preposition Stranded preposition

*The dog after which my neighbour looked The dog that my neighbour looked after
The person on whom you can rely on The person you can rely on
The man at whom the partners laughed The man the partners laughed at

6.3.3 THE PREPOSITIONAL PASSIVE

In many combinations, the NG complement of a PP can become subject in a passive clause. The preposition
then is obligatory stranded.

My dog was looked after *After my dog was looked

Tom can be relied on *On Tom can be relied

6.3.4 Realisations of the Preposition Object

NGs are typical realisations of the Op, but nominal clauses and non-finite -ing clauses also occur:

He almost ran over an old lady in the city centre this morning (NG).
I strongly object to what they proposed (nominal clause).
She believes in getting things done well. (-ing clause)

There are various degrees of integration, from relatively integrated such as smile (at) and wait (for), where the
verb can function without a preposition, to those that form a new lexical unit with the preposition (look after,
take to)

The PP following type 3 verbs such as smile and wait is often classified as Adjunct or as prepositional
complement (PPC).

In this grammar, it is used the term prepositional Object for the NG complement of a preposition which can
refer to a participant, different from the circumstantial PP functioning as C loc or as Adjunct.

6.4 PHRASAL VERBS: THE VERB + PARTICLE COMBINATION

6.4.1 SYNTACTIC FEATURES

  Phrasal verbs are combinations of a lexical verb and an adverbial ‘particle’ ( p) (get up, switch on/off,
take back, sit down). They may be:
o Intransitive with no object:
1) What time do you normally get up at the weekend?
o Transitive:
1) She switched off the computer / She switched the computer off
2) She switched it off
 With a noun as Object, the particle may precede or follow the object, as in 1. But if the Object is a
pronoun, the particle is placed after it, as in 2. It should be remarked this choice has to do with
emphasis purposes.
o They cancelled the party (focus on party)
o The cancelled off the party (focus on party)
o They cancelled the party off (focus on off)
 Some verb + particle combinations can be used both transitively and intransitively, e.g. blow up
(=explode), break down (=reduce to pieces)
o Terrorists blew up terminal 4 (transitive)
o The petrol station has blown up (intransitive)

6.4.2 Differences between phrasal verbs and prepositional verbs

 A pronoun follows a preposition but precedes the particle of a phrasal verb.

o She broke with him She broke it up
o *She broke him with *She broke up it
 The particle in phrasal verbs is stressed, whereas a preposition is normally unstressed. In prepositional
verbs the stress normally falls on the verb.
o She broke it UP She has BROken with him
 Phrasal verbs do not normally admit an adverb between the verb and the particle
o *she broke completely up the party She broke completely with her boyfriend
 In idiomatic phrasal verbs the particle is usually analysed as part of the verb
o Peter out > there is no separate verb ‘peter’.

6.4.3 Phrasal-prepositional verbs

They consist of a lexical verb followed by an adverbial particle and a preposition ( run up against, do away with).
They are characteristic of informal English and function like prepositional verbs, taking a prepositional object in
the clause

We ran up against a lot of problems

They have done away with free medicines

Many verbs can be followed by a PP functioning as a circumstantial Complement, as in They went to the park.
They express meanings of place, direction, times or means. They are generally questioned by Where, when, or
how, as opposed to What? Who? As is usual with Objects.
There is a parallel between intransitive phrasal like walk down and single verbs of movement followed by a
directional Complement (walk down the stairs)