[Grammar] Marc tells everyone that Kevin is an idiot

[nininaz]

Hello All,
According to the following sentence:
What is the grammatical role of the bold text?! It it noun clause or not?and why?!

Marc tells everyone that Kevin is an idiot , which is not true , of course .

Are the following compounds correct?!

Marc -> subject
Tells -> Action Verb
Everyone -> Indirect Object
Kevin is an idiot -> Direct object and noun clause
Which -> Relative pronoun and refers to "Kevin is an idiot".

Thanks so much.

 

[TheParser]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Hello, Nininaz:

In my OPINION, you are 100% correct. Congratulations!


NOTES:

1. "Tell" is one of those verbs that require an indirect object.

a. Native speakers will NOT accept "Marc tells that James is an idiot, which is true."

b. Native speakers WILL accept "Marc says that James is an idiot, which is true."

i. But they will NOT accept "Marc says me that James is an idiot, which is true."




James

 

[nininaz]

Thanks so much for your informative answers.
And how about the following sentence:
"They tell us in what manner the action takes place".
They -> sub
Tell - > verb
us -> indirect object
"in what manner the action take place" is direct object ?!
the sentence is confusing.
an "in" is the preposition of the verb "take place" or not !?

 

[tzfujimino]

"in what manner the action take place" is direct object ?!

Yes. 'in what manner the action takes place' is a noun clause, and 'in what manner' functions adverbially within the clause. 'in what manner' is equal to 'how', which is an adverb.



an "in" is the preposition of the verb "take place" or not !?


No, it isn't.

(As for your original post, 'that Kevin is an idiot' is the noun clause - you should include the conjunction 'that', in my opinion.)

I hope my response will be helpful.

 

[SoothingDave]

Hello All,
According to the following sentence:
What is the grammatical role of the bold text?! It it noun clause or not?and why?!

Marc tells everyone that Kevin is an idiot , which is not true , of course .

Are the following compounds correct?!

Marc -> subject
Tells -> Action Verb
Everyone -> Indirect Object
Kevin is an idiot -> Direct object and noun clause
Which -> Relative pronoun and refers to "Kevin is an idiot".

Thanks so much.

Do not put a space before a comma or period. One space after. "... Kevin is an idiot, which is not true, of course."

 

[MikeNewYork]

James, I think I understand what you meant, but the verb "tells" does not "require" an indirect object.

"Marc tells lies all the time."

 

[TheParser]

The verb "tells" does not "require" a direct object.

Thank you for your note.

I am not a very good reader, but did you mean to write indirect object?


If you did, then I should have, indeed, said that the verb "tell" requires an indirect object IF the verb "tell" has a that-noun clause as a direct object.

One book lists these verbs as having that requirement:

advise
assure
convince
inform
persuade
remind
tell




Thank you for reminding me [indirect] that my comments needed clarification [that-noun clause].



James



Credit: That list comes from A Concise Grammar of Contemporary English (1973) by Quirk and Greenbaum.

 

[TheParser]

"They tell us in what manner the action takes place".

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Hello, Nininaz:

I found a somewhat similar sentence in one of my books:

"He told her how he caught the pheasant."

1. As Tzfujimino reminded us, "in what manner" = "how."

2. So I guess that we could also say "He told her in what manner he caught the pheasant."

3. IF that is true, then in my OPINION, one may parse your sentence like this:

He = the subject.
told = the verb.
her = the indirect object.
in what manner the action takes place = the noun clause that is the direct object of the verb.

a. the action = the subject of the noun clause
b. takes = the verb of the noun clause.
c. in what manner = a prepositional phrase that = "how." It modifies the verb "takes."
d. place = the object of "takes."




James


Credit for that "how" sentence: Paul Roberts [of Cornell University], Understanding English (1954).