Строй современного английского языка

The Object 219
i ng passive construction. It is well known that in English there is a greater variety of possible passive constructions than in many other languages. For instance, the sentence We gave him a present can have two passive equivalents: A present was given to him (here the subject corresponds to the direct object in the active construction), and He was given a present (here the subject corresponds to the indirect object of the active construction). However, the second passive variant is only possible if the direct object is there, too. The sentence He was given in this sense (without the direct object) would not be possible. Now, with the verbs tell and teach things are different. It is quite possible to say The story has been told many times and I have been told about it (in this case the subject corresponds to the indirect object of the active construction, and there is no direct object in the sentence). In a similar way, it is possible to say Geography is taught by a new teacher and also Children are taught by a new teacher (without any direct object and indeed without any object corresponding to "geography"). From this point of view the sentences with the verbs tell and teach are different from those with the verbs send, show, give, etc. With the former there are not sufficient objective grounds for saying that one object is direct, and the other indirect.
As to sentences containing one object only, there are no grounds at all for saying that the object is "indirect". Sentences with the verb help are a case in point. In the sentence We will help our friends, for instance, there is nothing to show whether the object is direct or indirect. ¹
The object with verbs meaning 'to call by telephone or telegraph' is another case in point. We might suppose that the object with such verbs is indirect. The usual type of sentence, with the verb in the active voice, does not give any clue to this. For instance, in the following sentence there is nothing to show whether the object of telegraph is direct or indirect: "That's fine" she replied. "I'll telegraph Lee right away that I'm coming." (BUECHNER) But there are cases in which a verb of this category is used in the passive voice, e. g. Three days later, I was surprised to be rung up by Charles (SNOW) , that is, in the corresponding sentence with the predicate verb in the active voice, he rang me up, the object might equally be said to be a direct one.
Now, moreover, this question of direct and indirect objects is also connected with one type of object expressed by a phrase, namely the one of the pattern "to + noun or pronoun". It is common knowledge that the thought expressed in the sentence He gave me
¹ The fact that in Russian the corresponding verb помогать takes an indirect object, that is, a noun or pronoun in the dative case, is of course totally irrelevant here.

220 Secondary Parts in Detail
a present can also be expressed in a slightly different way, namely, He gave a present to me. 1 We may call the first of the two objects direct because it stands in the same relation to the predicate verb as in the sentence He gave me a present. As to the second object, which includes a preposition, it is doubtful whether it will serve any useful purpose to call it an indirect object, since objects of the pattern "preposition + noun or pronoun" cannot be direct,² so that for objects of this kind there is no opposition of direct and indirect. If, however, we insist that the function of to me in this sentence is the same as that of me in the sentence He gave me a present, we shall have to include all prepositional objects under the heading of indirect objects and to change the system of classification which we have so far followed, in accordance with this view. It must be admitted that either way entails difficulties. If we follow the line adopted, we have to separate to me in the sentence He gave a present to me from me in the sentence He gave me a present; but then we can restrict the division of objects into direct and indirect to noun and pronoun objects (without preposition). If, on the other hand, we take to me to be an indirect object, we are obliged to extend the category of indirect objects to the prepositional ones; by way of compensation, we can keep up the connection between me in the sentence He gave me a present and to me in the sentence He gave a present to me. It would seem that, on the whole, the first alternative is preferable.
There is another question to be discussed concerning prepositional objects. Let us compare the following two sentences: We spoke about recent events, and We bought about twenty books. In the first sentence, the preposition denotes a relation between the action denoted by the verb and the thing denoted by the noun. The sentence is based on the pattern "speak about something". In the second sentence, the verb buy is not associated with a preposition: there is no pattern "buy about something". The word about does not denote any relation between the action and the thing, and bears in fact no relation at all to the verb. It is connected with the numeral only and shows that the number denoted by the numeral is not here given as exact. It is even doubtful whether the word about is here a preposition, as both its meaning and function are different from those of prepositions. ³ If we take this view, the object in this case will not be prepositional, and this is perhaps the best way out of the difficulty. If, however, we insist on the word about being a preposition we shall have to distinguish between two different types
¹ There is a difference in emphasis between the two sentences, but we Deed not dwell on it here.
² See, however, the next paragraph.
³ See above (p. 152) on the possibility of taking about as a particle.