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Persian Learner Posted 10 years ago
Grammar

Had given to?

Hi.

War had given to the community a greater sense of togetherness.


I can't work out the role of 'to' in the above sentence.

We don't normally say: I gave to him my book, do we?

But, this way it does work for me: War had given a greater sense of togetherness to the community.

I'm totally confused.Emotion: sad
  

Top answer

English makes no distinction between direct and indirect objects as far as grammar is concerned. Therefore the reader might think that the community was given to someone before he reads on and realises that a greater sense of togetherness is the direct object. This possible confusion and misunderstanding results from the fact that English nouns have no grammatical cases for direct and indirect objects.

— Cool Breeze

  • English makes no distinction between direct and indirect objects as far as grammar is concerned.
  • Therefore the reader might think that the community was given to someone before he reads on and realises that a greater sense of togetherness is the direct object.
  • This possible confusion and misunderstanding results from the fact that English nouns have no grammatical cases for direct and indirect objects.
  • Putting 'to' before the indirect object makes the intended meaning absolutely clear.
  • CB
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11 Answers
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English makes no distinction between direct and indirect objects as far as grammar is concerned. Therefore the reader might think that the community was given to someone before he reads on and realises that a greater sense of togetherness is the direct object. This possible confusion and misunderstanding results from the fact that English nouns have no grammatical cases for direct and indirect obj
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Could you please give me some examples of this structure in different tenses?
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Persian LearnerI can't work out the role of 'to' in the above sentence.
In my opinion it's unnecessary. It strikes me as literary.

CJ
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Persian LearnerWar had given to the community a greater sense of togetherness. I can't work out the role of 'to' in the above sentence.
I agree, it's confusing. My first understanding was that the verb "to give to" is a prepositional one followed by its direct object "the community". I think that such an inversion where the PP "to the community" precedes the
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Persian LearnerCould you please give me some examples of this structure in different tenses?
I don't think tense has anything to do with the use of 'to'. It may be that 'to' is more likely to be used before a long indirect object in sentences like yours.

CB
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Is this acceptable:I gave to all of the students a big red piece of cake?
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Persian LearnerIs this acceptable:I gave to all of the students a big red piece of cake?
No. As a matter of style, and not of grammar, it's too pedestrian a thought to express in a literary way. When learning a new language, it's best not to imitate literary style when expressing ideas that are simply part of ordinary conversation. Save that for when you wr
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Thank you dear CalifJim.
CalifJimBy the way, what is "a red piece of cake"? Is this some kind of special cake where one piece is red, another is green, and another is blue? Or something like that?
Something like this, but in a much larger scale:

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Persian LearnerSomething like this
Ah! Then we say "a big piece of red cake", not "a big red piece of cake". Do you see the difference?

Is it chocolate flavored?

CJ
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CalifJimAh! Then we say "a big piece of red cake", not "a big red piece of cake". Do you see the difference?
I see.
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