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Anonymous Posted 13 years ago
Vocabulary

Led

Hi.

"“They led HMRC a merry dance in the unlamented reign of Dave Hartnett - the new HMRC management and the Government must make every effort now to collect some tax at least on this profit.” [From The Independent.]

Is HMRC or a merry dance the object of the verb led ?

Thank you.
  

Top answer

HMRC Another way to say it is "“They led HMRC on a merry dance . . ".

— Clive

  • HMRC Another way to say it is "“They led HMRC on a merry dance .
  • .
  • ".
  • Clive
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11 Answers
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HMRC

Another way to say it is "“They led HMRC on a merry dance . . . ".

Clive
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AnonymousIs HMRC or a merry dance the object of the verb led ?
HMRC is the indirect object; a merry dance is the direct object.

Various definitions of to lead someone a dance found in on-line dictionaries, in case the idiom is new to you:

to cause someone continued worry and exasperation
to cause one to go through a s
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Thank you, CJ, for your useful reply.
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CalifJimHMRC is the indirect object; a merry dance is the direct object.
Are you sure?
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GPYAre you sure?
I'm as sure as I can be in dealing with what I find to be a unique grammatical pattern.

The closest pattern like it that I know of would be something like

I found him a hammer.

Or, perhaps closer:

I taught him a lesson.


In the case of I led him a merry dance, I would call
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Well, I thought the primary sense was "I led him", with "a merry dance" giving further information about the manner in which he was led. However, perhaps I'm wrong, or perhaps you can look at it either way.
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GPYWell, I thought the primary sense was "I led him", with "a merry dance" giving further information about the manner in which he was led.
OK. That's a way to look at it. Unfortunately, I don't know of another sentence that works that way, unless maybe we could say that in

I taught him a lesson.

the primary sense is "I taught him",
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CalifJimUnfortunately, I don't know of another sentence that works that way
How about "I clobbered him a good one"?
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GPYI clobbered him a good one
Nice. So you're saying that 'a good one' is adverbial, I suppose.

CJ
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CalifJim So you're saying that 'a good one' is adverbial, I suppose.
I'm really not clear whether it's adverbial or some kind of secondary verb object. Do you have any feeling?
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