Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

Û

96 Headers; 97 Tails

STRUCTURAL OPTIONS

475

Indirect object versus prepositional complement

475a

In expressing the recipient or beneficiary of an action, there is often a choice

between an indirect object or a prepositional complement. 

Unmarked word order is indirect object (

IO

) + direct object (

DO

):

IO

DO

Did you give 

him

the money?

If the recipient/beneficiary is to receive more focus, it can be expressed as a prepositional

complement (

PC

) and placed at the end of the clause, giving it endweight:

[speaker B has just given speaker A a present]

A: Oh, you didn’t have to do that!

DO

PC 

B: I bought a present

for Rhonda

as well.

(Rhonda is the new, important information here; ‘presents’ are old, given

information)

DO

The plans were revised about 1974 but they still gave 

a disproportionate focus

PC 

to France

.