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Anonymous Posted 9 years ago
Grammar

Put down to

He put her bad temper down to exhaustion.

Is "her bad temper" a direct object and "exhaustion" an indirect one of the phrasal verb "put down to" in the sentence above?
  

Top answer

Anonymous Is "her bad temper" a direct object Yes. Anonymous and "exhaustion" an indirect one No. 'to exhaustion' is a normal prepositional phrase where the use of "to" is just coincidental.

— CalifJim

  • Anonymous Is "her bad temper" a direct object Yes.
  • Anonymous and "exhaustion" an indirect one No.
  • 'to exhaustion' is a normal prepositional phrase where the use of "to" is just coincidental.
  • Nothing is being given or communicated to "exhaustion" nor done for the benefit of "exhaustion", so the semantics of the situation should not lead you to think there's an indirect object in the sentence.
  • CJ
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2 Answers
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AnonymousIs "her bad temper" a direct object
Yes.
Anonymousand "exhaustion" an indirect one
No. 'to exhaustion' is a normal prepositional phrase where the use of "to" is just coincidental. Nothing is being given or communicated to "exhaustion" nor done for the benefit of "exhaustion", so the semantics of the situation shou
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Thank you, CJ, for the reply.
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