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Anonymous Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
Parts of a sentence
In this sentence, what is the function of the phrase " his mother":
Steven presented his mother with a gift.
"a gift" is the object of the preposition "with."
Steven presents "a gift," not "his mother," so it would seem that mother cannot be the direct object, but without a direct object, it can't be the indirect object. I'm stuck.
Steven presented his mother with a gift.
"a gift" is the object of the preposition "with."
Steven presents "a gift," not "his mother," so it would seem that mother cannot be the direct object, but without a direct object, it can't be the indirect object. I'm stuck.
Top answer
In the grammatical analysis I am accustomed to his mother is indeed a direct object in the sentence but grammarians don't always agree on matters like this. All manner of expressions that defy logic abound in English, so that isn't a problem for us non-native speakers. I understand why you are puzzled, though!
- In the grammatical analysis I am accustomed to his mother is indeed a direct object in the sentence but grammarians don't always agree on matters like this.
- All manner of expressions that defy logic abound in English, so that isn't a problem for us non-native speakers.
- I understand why you are puzzled, though!
- CB
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1 Answers
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In the grammatical analysis I am accustomed to his mother is indeed a direct object in the sentence but grammarians don't always agree on matters like this. All manner of expressions that defy logic abound in English, so that isn't a problem for us non-native speakers. I understand why you are puzzled, though!
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