[Grammar] Using the word "matter" as a transitive verb

[emp0608]

Hi folks,

I heard a CNN newscaster say, "What does the election matter to the rest of the world?" Here, he is using "matter" as a transitive verb. What do you think of this usage?

Thank you.

 

[Rover_KE]

Sorry — you reached the wrong conclusion. 'Matter' is an intransitive verb.

 

[emp0608]

Thanks for your reply, but I haven't reached any conclusions. I'm just asking what native speakers of English think of this usage.

 

[Matthew Wai]

'The rest of the world' is after the preposition 'to', so it is not a direct object.
Is it correct?

Not a teacher.

 

[emp0608]

Thanks for your reply, but in the sentence "What does the election matter to the rest of the world?" the interrogative "what" is the direct object of the transitive verb "matter". It's the same as "What did he say to you?". "say" is a transitive verb and "what" is its direct object.

 

[Matthew Wai]

I think 'what' is not the direct object of 'matter', as 'how' is not the direct object of 'die' in 'how did he die in the accident?'

Not a teacher.

 

[bhaisahab]

"What does the election matter to the rest of the world?"
This is perfectly normal English usage.

 

[emp0608]

Thank you Matthew Wal and bhaisahab. I replied to your thread but my replies don't show, so I'm replying to you again. First, Matthew Wal, 'how' and 'what' are different; 'how' is an interrogative adverb, so it can't be an object, but 'what' is an interrogative pronoun, so it can be an object.
And bhaisahab, your reply is what I was looking for. So it sounds natural to you. That means "matter" can be used as a transitive verb in this sentence.

 

[Rover_KE]

None of the dictionaries here define 'matter' as a transitive verb. (Click on the underlined link.)

 

[oldbei]

None of the dictionaries here define 'matter' as a transitive verb. (Click on the underlined link.)

This is from Collins Dictionary:

V-T/V-I If you say that something does not matter, you mean that it is not important to you because it does not have an effect on you or on a particular situation. [nocont, usu with brd-neg]

 

[BobK]

'Matter' here means 'BE of significance'. BE is not transitive; neither is matter. In some parts of the world you don't lose face by admitting you've made a mistake. You risk losing face though by persistently making the same error. :-|

b

 

[oldbei]

How about "it matters the world to me?"

 

[Rover_KE]

'The world' here is an adverbial phrase – not a direct object. It tells us how much it matters.

Compare 'It matters greatly to me'.

 

[oldbei]

'The world' here is an adverbial phrase – not a direct object. It tells us how much it matters.

Compare 'It matters greatly to me'.

Ok, this is new to me.

By the same token, we should also consider "nothing" as in "it matters nothing to him" as an adverb, right?

I've heard that one way to test whether a noun is being used as an object or adverbial is to find out if we can ask about it with a "what-question." It looks to me that "the world" can pass this test:
- What does it matter to her?
- It matters the world to her.

Oxford Learners' Dictionaries does say that "matter" as a verb can be intransitive as well as transitive:
http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/matter_2

I wonder what an example in which the word is used as a transitive verb would look like.

 

[Raymott]

This dictionary calls "what" an adverb in "What does it matter?" I agree.

what
—adv.
1. to what extent or degree? how much?: What does it matter?
2. (used to introduce a prepositional phrase beginning with with): What with storms and all, their return was delayed.
3. Obs.for what reason or purpose? why?
http://dictionary.infoplease.com/what

It matters a lot/heaps/loads. Adverbs, as Rover has said.

 

[emp0608]

Thank you all for your interest in this "matter" issue. In order to grammatically justify a sentence like "What does it matter?", we either have to think the verb "matter" can be used as a transitive verb or "what" can be used as an adverb. But what matters is not grammatical justification, but the fact that it's a perfectly normal sentence and most native speaker don't even know what it matters, right?

 

[Matthew Wai]

As 'the world' is an adverbial phrase in 'it matters the world to her', is 'a natural death' an adverbial phrase too in 'she died a natural death' ?

"what" can be used as an adverb.

'What' is an adverb in 'what does it matter?', as 'how' is an adverb in 'how did she die?'
Not a teacher.

 

[Rover_KE]

Yes.