grammar

Question

HelloWhat is the correct form: "give it to me" Or "give me it."?Thank you.

Ozzourti · Accepted Answer

"Give me it" is not standard English. I'd suggest that you use the former.

Sergeyafal · Answer

Thank you.

Anonymous · Answer

This is an interesting question, because native English speakers - knowing the language by instinct - never think about things like this. Suppose, for example, that the "it" in the sentence is a book. Then you can say: "Give the book to me." or "Give me the book." or even, "Give to me the book." But you can't say: "Give the book me."

You can substitute the pronoun "it" for "the book," then you have: "Give it to me." or "Give me it.", or even, "Give to me it." So both of your sentences are okay.

Grammarfreak · Answer

AnonymousThis is an interesting question, because native English speakers - knowing the language by instinct - never think about things like this. Suppose, for example, that the "it" in the sentence is a book. Then you can say: "Give the book to me." or "Give me the book." or even, "Give to me the book." But you can't say: "Give the book me." You can substitute the pronoun "it" for "the book," then you have: "Give it to me." or "Give me it.", or even, "Give to me it." So both of your sentences are okay.

Exactly! I agree with Anon on this. It is not wrong to say "give me it" for the reason explained. It is just not idiomatically common to say it that way. Please hand me the remote- Yes. Please hand the remote to me - Ummm..ok but not idiomatic. John handed me to the remote - Ok.
.

Ozzourti · Answer

AnonymousYou can substitute the pronoun "it" for "the book," then you have: "Give it to me." or "Give me it.", or even, "Give to me it." So both of your sentences are okay.

I realize that it may be perfectly acceptable to some people and in certain dialects, but I think that learners should be advised against using it, unless they know for sure that their audience would find "Give me it" unremarkable. To me, however, it sounds like something a child might say.

Even https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=give+me+it%2Cgive+it+to+me%2CGive+me+it%2CGive+it+to+me&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cgive%20me%20it%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cgive%20it%20to%20me%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CGive%20me%20it%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CGive%20it%20to%20me%3B%2Cc0 is strongly in favor of "Give it to me", which I suppose clearly indicates that most writers prefer the more usual form.

grammar

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions