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SpoonfedBaby Posted 22 years ago
Grammar
Transitive Verb Followed by 'to'
In my dictionary the verb cook is transitive. I don’t know if I need to use a preposition between the “cook” and the pronoun.
We are cooking to them a soup.
We are cooking for them a soup.
We are cooking them a soup.
It sounds to me “We are cooking for them a soup” is the good answer, but I read at this forum when the indirect object fallows a transitive verb, then “to” is not used.
In A Student Grammar of the English Language, I found this example: We paid them the money. I looked for “pay” in the dictionary: transitive verb. Is it "them" a direct or an indirect object?
We are cooking to them a soup.
We are cooking for them a soup.
We are cooking them a soup.
It sounds to me “We are cooking for them a soup” is the good answer, but I read at this forum when the indirect object fallows a transitive verb, then “to” is not used.
In your example "He said that I was right", "that I was right" is the direct object ("say" is a transitive verb).
What it true is that this verb can be followed by an indirect object (which may or may not be a pronoun) only if we use "to" before the object:
"He said to John that I was right."
"to John" is the indirect object; "that I was right" is still the direct object.
"Tell", on the other hand, accepts indirect objects with or without "to", depending on the position of the object:
1. If the indirect object follows "tell" immediately, then "to" is not used --> "He told John/me that he'd be late for the meeting."
2. If the indirect object follows the direct object, then "to" introduced the indirect object -->
"He told a lie to John/ to me."
In A Student Grammar of the English Language, I found this example: We paid them the money. I looked for “pay” in the dictionary: transitive verb. Is it "them" a direct or an indirect object?
Top answer
' 'Money' is DO, 'them' is IO. Both this and 'we paid them the money' are natural English. 'We are cooking for them a soup' is not, but should be recast as 'we are cooking a soup for them' or 'we are cooking them a soup'.
- ' 'Money' is DO, 'them' is IO.
- Both this and 'we paid them the money' are natural English.
- 'We are cooking for them a soup' is not, but should be recast as 'we are cooking a soup for them' or 'we are cooking them a soup'.
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4 Answers
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Just add the 'to' to find out:
'We paid the money to them.' 'Money' is DO, 'them' is IO.
Both this and 'we paid them the money' are natural English. 'We are cooking for them a soup' is not, but should be recast as 'we are cooking a soup for them' or 'we are cooking them a soup'.
'We paid the money to them.' 'Money' is DO, 'them' is IO.
Both this and 'we paid them the money' are natural English. 'We are cooking for them a soup' is not, but should be recast as 'we are cooking a soup for them' or 'we are cooking them a soup'.
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Nine times out of ten the indirect object is one or more persons, and the direct object is really a physical object.
Almost all the verbs that take both a direct and an indirect object have to do with transferring.
st. = something (object)
so. = someone (indirect object)
give st. to so.; send st. to so.; transfer st. to so.; throw st. to so.; pay st. to so.; sel
Almost all the verbs that take both a direct and an indirect object have to do with transferring.
st. = something (object)
so. = someone (indirect object)
give st. to so.; send st. to so.; transfer st. to so.; throw st. to so.; pay st. to so.; sel
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Dear Tutor,
I have a question about the useage of tranistive and intransitive verb. Could any body help me in this respecrt? Thank You.
I have a question about the useage of tranistive and intransitive verb. Could any body help me in this respecrt? Thank You.
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Yes indeed. What is your question about this broad subject?
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