Preposition + indirect object

Question

(1) We asked three questions to 300 students from ages 14 to 16.

Is it possible to change the sentence above into the following sentence?

(2) We asked three questions of 300 students from ages 14 to 16

(3) We asked 300 students from ages 14 to 16 three questions (??)

I think that we usually put a preposition 'of' before a indirect object like the sentence (2)

However, in the sentence (1), the preposition 'to' is used. I don't know grammatical reason.

In addition, I wonder if the sentence (3) is grammatically correct. In this sentence, '300 students from ages 14 to 16' is the indirect object and 'three questions' is the direct object.

I appreciate your comments.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Hoony(1) We asked three questions to 300 students from ages 14 to 16.

According to some grammarians, this is wrong. 'ask' is a non-alternating, double-object-only ditransitive verb.*

Hoony(3) We asked 300 students from ages 14 to 16 three questions. (??)

This is the non-alternating form, but the indirect object is too cumbersome.

Hoony(2) We asked three questions of 300 students from ages 14 to 16.

This is the solution to the problem — 'of' instead of 'to'.

*See for further details if you wish.

CJ

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Actually #3 is the best and most common. It is grammatically correct.

#2 is a more formal (literary) way of writing this, and #1 is the worst (but probably still grammatical) version.

Ditransitive verbs can have two objects, an indirect object and a direct object. The sentence with a prepositional phrase (to, for, and rarely of) can sometimes be used to give the same meaning.

He told Henry a lie. (better)
He told a lie to Henry. (OK)

He gave me a book. (OK)
He gave a book to me. (OK)

He explained the theory to Henry. (OK)
He explained Henry the theory. (wrong)

(X-posted)

Preposition + indirect object

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