UGH...Indirect Objects, Prepositional Phrases...

I think the coolest thing about learning a foreign language is actually learning your own language.

For example, today we discussed the combination of Direct Object Pronouns and Indirect Object Pronouns in a sentence. I figured it was going to be a pretty easy day...it wasn't.

It started off well, with examples and definitions, then this sentence:

I gave it to her. ... "it" the direct object pronoun ... "her" the indirect object pronoun,

A student asked...
     student -  "Isn't "to her" a prepositional phrase?" Therefore "her" would be an Object of a Preposition
     me -  Yes, it is, but since it answers the questions "to whom?", "to what?", "for whom?" or "for what?" it's an indirect object.

You can see, she wasn't happy with that response. And, I could have let it go, and easily left it at, "In Spanish the Indirect Object Pronoun precede the direct object and answers the questions "to whom?", "to what?, "for whom?" or "for what?" Blah blah blah
BUT...
Does that help the student? NO.
Does it provide a clear understanding for her OR for me? NO.

So...I had to do some research. Ok, so where's the actual confusion...the confusion comes from whether or not a prepositional phrase can contain an indirect object. If an indirect object follows a preposition...like "to"  then "her" becomes an object of that preposition and NOT an indirect object...true or false?

According to Suite101.com, there are 4 ways to use indirect objects in English.
1. Within a Noun Phrase.... The woman gave the cat a bath.
2. Within a Verb Phrase....  You should give showering daily a try.

3. Within a Noun Clause....  You should have given what your parents said both thought and consideration.
AND BELLS AND WHISTLES....
4. Within a Prepositional Phrase....  You need to give a card to her.


Here's the neat thing about Indirect Objects and Prepositional Phrases that I realized when it comes to Spanish.

In English, ... I wrote Bob a letter.  What? a letter = direct object  To whom? Bob = indirect object
Without writing the word "to" it's understood in English that the letter was written "to Bob." You can change that sentence from... I wrote Bob a letter.... to.... I wrote a letter to Bob.

In Spanish, it's clearer.  Le escribí una carta a Bob.   ¿Qué? una carta  ¿A quién? a Bob

So, that leads to my next question... How do you know the difference between an Indirect Object and an Object of a Preposition?

REMEMBER: Indirect Objects answer the questions "to whom?", "to what?", "for whom?" or "for what?" If the "object" doesn't answer one of those questions, then it's an Object of the Preposition.

Example:
I gave the flower to Sally.  Sally is my indirect object. Sally answers "to whom?" was the flower given.
I gave Sally the flower.  Sally is my indirect object. Sally answers "to whom?" was the flower given.

I slid the money under the rug. Rug doesn't answer any of my questions, therefore it's an Object of the Preposition.

SN: Notice how you can take away the preposition "to" and move the indirect object in front of the direct object and the sentence still makes sense. If you try that with an object of the preposition...it won't work

I slid the money under the rug.  I slid the rug the money...doesn't work, therefore RUG is NOT an indirect object.

What we learned in class today, is how to use Direct Object Pronouns and Indirect Object Pronouns in the same sentence. I'll re-write my class notes and post them later.
http://www.sampsoncc.edu/staff/mmoore/direct_indirect_pronouns.htm


Check out Suite101 for more English Grammar hints.
Read more at Suite101: The Grammatical Indirect Object in English: Nouns, Prepositional Phrases, Verbs, and Noun Clauses as Objects http://www.suite101.com/content/the-grammatical-indirect-object-in-english-a112196#ixzz15aWUYmMW
I hope this helps....