12 · Predict
Two objects
Some verbs can be followed by two noun phrases. In He gave her the keys, her names the receiver and the keys names what was given. The course calls the first phrase the indirect object and the second the direct object.
evidence for this construction
Compare a related to or for phrase
Her and the keys are two noun-phrase objects of gave.
The keys stays the direct object; her now sits inside to her — labels that run ahead of lesson 14.
With give, this related sentence preserves the transfer relationship. The double-object construction has two NP objects; in the to version, the keys remains the direct object while her is inside a prepositional phrase.
Test a likely double-object reading
- Find two noun phrases directly after the verb.
- Try a related version with the second noun phrase first and to or for before the other participant.
- When that version keeps the relationship, it supports a double-object reading with the first NP as indirect object.
The alternation is restricted to particular verbs and meanings: donate the books to the library does not normally become donate the library the books. It also cannot settle every verb-plus-two-noun-phrases sequence. They elected the lawyer their chair has a direct object followed by an object complement, the next lesson’s competing frame.
Ten sentences from this lesson, one decision at a time.