Recent work in syntax
deploys the concept
of oblique object;
in English, any noun
phrase that is the complement of a preposition is an oblique
96 AN INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH SYNTAX
object, where the prepositional phrase is itself the complement of a verb. In (19), to Onegin, to Egilsay and for Jane are oblique objects.
- a. Tatiana wrote to Onegin.
- Magnus went to Egilsay.
- Frank bought a piano for Jane.
Phrases such as to Onegin used to be analysed as containing indirect object nouns, but this concept of indirect object is problematical. Grammars of English would merely refer to verbs such as , ,
and , which occur in the construction V NP1 TO NP2 or V NP2 NP1: compare Celia gave the car to Ben vs Celia gave Ben the car, where the car is NP1 and Ben is NP2. The indirect object was said to be the noun phrase preceded by to, and the relevant verbs were either listed indi- vidually or divided into classes labelled ‘verbs of saying’, ‘verbs of giving’ and so on in order to avoid the label ‘indirect object’ being assigned to phrases such as to Dundee in He went to Dundee.
In fact, it is difficult to separate indirect objects from adverbs of direc- tion. It is sometimes suggested that the two can be distinguished on the grounds that indirect object NPs contain animate nouns, whereas adverbs of place contain inanimate nouns denoting countries, towns and other places. If this were correct, we would expect inanimate nouns not to occur immediately to the right of a verb such as sent in (20) and (21).
- a. Lucy sent a letter to Isadore.
b. Lucy sent Isadore a letter.
- a. The Government sent an envoy to China.
b. (*)The Government sent China an envoy.
It has been suggested that (21b) is not correct, but the fault is semantic and not syntactic. Example (21b) has the interpretation that a person is sent to China so that China can use him/her as an envoy. This is a rather unusual situation – at least out of context, (21b) seems odd. The oddness can be removed by substituting different lexical items, as in (22).
- The company sent China its senior mining engineers to help plan the new mines.
Example (22) presents China not just as a geographical area but as a body that is to benefit from the engineers. With the appropriate interpretation, then, an inanimate noun can occur to the right of the verb.
Another suggestion is that indirect objects can occur
immediately to the
right of the verb but not immediately to the right
of genuine adverbs
of direction. (Genuine
adverbs of direction
would not include
China in (22).) This suggestion is correct, but it still fails to distinguish indirect
GRAMMATICAL FUNCTIONS 97
objects, because an indirect object noun cannot always occur immedi- ately to the right of the verb, as shown by (23).
- a. *The experts attributed Raphael this picture.
- *I forwarded Winifred the letter.
- *The manager presented the foreman a gold watch.
- *Kick John the ball.
- *Monica hit Martina the ball.
- *The critics ascribe Shakespeare this play.
The particular examples in (23) have been tested on many classes of students at all levels. Some have accepted some of the examples, especially (23b), but the vast majority have not accepted any of them.
Other evidence that attacks any clear distinction between indirect objects and adverbs of direction is presented in (24)–(25), which illus- trate certain syntactic patterns common to indirect objects and adverbs of direction. The first shared property is that both can occur in WH interrogatives with the preposition to at the end or beginning of the clause.
- a. Who did John send a book to?
b. To whom did John send a book?
- a. What place did you travel to?
b. To what place did you travel?
Another property in common is that both can occur in active interroga- tive WH clauses with to omitted, but not in passive WH interrogatives.
- a. Who did John send the book?
b. What place did John send the book?
- a. *Who was the book sent by John.
b. *What place was the book sent by John?
Indirect objects and adverbs of direction can occur at the front of clauses preceded by only. In such constructions, the preposition to cannot be omitted – compare the indirect object in (28) and the adverb of direc- tion in (29).
- a. Only to the best students would he give this book.
b. *Only the best students would he give this book.
- a. Only to Glasgow would he go by train (because the service is fast).
b. *Only Glasgow would he travel by train.
The same
applies to the
cleft construction in (30) and
(31), where the
98 AN INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH SYNTAX
indirect object to the best students in (30) and the adverb of direction to Stromness in (31) are preceded by it is.
- a. It is to the best students that he gives this book.
b. *It is the best students he gives this book.
- a. It is to Stromness that he is going.
b. *It is Stromness that he is going.
There is one difference (concealed by the use of what place in (25)): indirect objects are questioned by who … to or to whom, but adverbs of direction are questioned by where. However, this is one difference to be set against a number of similarities, and it could in any case be argued that the difference does not reflect a syntactic category but a difference in the sorts of entities that are the end point of the movement, where being reserved for places, who for human beings.
The analysis indicated by the above data is that we cannot maintain the traditional concept of indirect object as the to phrase with verbs such as give and show and that all verb complements introduced by a prep- osition should be treated as one category, namely oblique objects. The concept of indirect object is not dead, however. Some traditional analyses applied it to, for example, the phrase to Harriet in (32) and to the phrase Harriet in (33).
- Emma gave advice to Harriet.
- Emma gave Harriet advice.
The label ‘indirect object’ is useful for Harriet in (33). It can be declared to reflect the fact that while Harriet is an object – compare Harriet was given advice by Emma – it is felt by many analysts to be less of a direct object than advice, even though advice in (33) is not next to the verb.
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