A book I gave to her

Question

(1) I gave a book to her.(2) A book I gave to her.Is "(2)" grammatical? And if so, can we still call "A book" a direct object in "(2)", i.e., in the same way as we do it in "(1)"?---------In (2) "A book" is on the left from the subject "I" hence out of the predicate. I understand that direct object should be placed in the predicate not outside it. Isn't it that in (2) "A book" should be called a complement?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

tkacka15Is "(2)" grammatical?

If it's to be construed as a complete sentence, it's borderline OK. Maybe it would work in a line of poetry. Most native speakers, however, would not take it as a sentence. They would take it as an NP: A book that I gave to her.

tkacka15And if so, can we still call "A book" a direct object in "(2)", i.e., in the same way as we do it in "(1)"?

Yes.

tkacka15In (2) "A book" is on the left from the subject "I" hence out of the predicate. I understand that direct object should be placed in the predicate not outside it. Isn't it that in (2) "A book" should be called a complement?

It's a matter of inversion. The analysis is of the sentence in its 'original' word order, so the preposed D.O. is still part of the predicate. 'a book' is still a complement (of the direct object kind) regardless of its position.

Preposing a direct object is not common at all. It occurs mostly in conversation with 'that' and/or when making a contrast.

— You need a comma here.
— That I know. What I was asking about was the colon.

— Bob is a dumb nerd.
— He may be dumb, but a nerd he is not.

CJ

A book I gave to her

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