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Old 11-Jun-2008, 15:54
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Question Indirect object and Prepositional object probem

Hi, I'm confused about IOs and POs.

As I understood, IOs answer the question "to whom or for whom" and stands between the verb and the DO. The following examples confuse me because the IOs are preceded by a preposition and have no direct object.

a. He has separated [from his wife.]
In my opinion [from his wife] is a PO because I don't see anywhere a DO but am I right?

b. All the credit for this belongs [to our sales staff.]
I don't understand the function of [to our sales staff]. It answers the question "to whom" so it looks like an IO but it already has the preposition "to" making me think that it's in fact a PO.

c. He lectures [to the students] [on drama].
Since 'to' is a preposition but [to the students] answers to the question 'to whom'. I don't understand why it's different from [on drama] which is a PO.

Please help me.
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Old 11-Jun-2008, 23:51
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Default Re: Indirect object and Prepositional object probem

a. He has separated [from his wife.]
In my opinion [from his wife] is a PO because I don't see anywhere a DO but am I right? - Yes.
He has separated from his wife.
Subject - Intransitive verb - Prepositional phrase


b. All the credit for this belongs [to our sales staff.]
I don't understand the function of [to our sales staff]. It answers the question "to whom" so it looks like an IO but it already has the preposition "to" making me think that it's in fact a PO. - "Belong to" is the verb..
Subject - credit
transitive verb - belongs to
direct object - staff


c. He lectures [to the students] [on drama].
Since 'to' is a preposition but [to the students] answers to the question 'to whom'. I don't understand why it's different from [on drama] which is a PO.- This sentence should be "He lectures the students on drama."
Pattern would be Subject-Transitive verb-Direct object

IO only exists in this pattern:
I - Subject
gave - Transitive verb
mom - Indirect object
a hug - Direct object.

I - subject
bought - transitive verb
my son - indirect object
some candies - direct object
.

Last edited by paochai01; 11-Jun-2008 at 23:59.
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