englishstudent said:
Hi,
someone used this sentence:
"When she returns the book, give me it.
I suggested using "give it to me", but was not able
to explain the reason why "give me it" is not correct.
"Give me the book" is a correct sentence,
so why is it not OK to use "it" in place of "the book"?
Thanks
ex:
That`s the book; give it to me[the object is known to the speaker and to the interlocutor]
Give me it[ not correct because it`s an imperative sentence and you don`t state the exact object; the object is a pronoun
Read the following explanation:
In grammar, a ditransitive verb is a verb which takes a subject and two objects. According to certain linguistics considerations, these objects may be called direct and indirect, or primary and secondary.
English has a number of generally ditransitive verbs, such as give and grant, and many transitive verbs that can take an additional argument (commonly a beneficiary or target of the action), such as pass, read, bake, etc.:
He gave Mary ten dollars.
He passed Paul the ball.
Jean read him the books.
She is baking him a cake.
English grammar allows for these sentences to be written alternately with a preposition (to or for):
He gave ten dollars to Mary.
Jean read the books to/for him., etc.
The latter form is grammatically correct in every case, but in some dialects the former (without a preposition) is considered ungrammatical, or at least unnatural-sounding, when both objects are pronouns (as in He gave me it).
Sometimes one of the forms is perceived as wrong for idiosyncratic reasons (idioms tend to be fixed in form) or the verb simply dictates one of the patterns and excludes the other:
Give a break to me (grammatical, but always realized as Give me a break)
He introduced Susan his brother (usually becomes He introduced his brother to Susan)
Passive voice
Many ditransitive verbs have a passive voice form which can take a direct object. Contrast the active and two forms of the passive:
Active:
Jean gave the books to him.
Jean gave him the books.
Passive:
The books were given to him by Jean.
He was given the books by Jean.
