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8.2 Ditransitive / monotransitive contrasts
8.2.1 Type I: I gave her the key vs I gave the key to her
The indirect object generally expresses arguments with the semantic role of recipient, and these arguments are all commonly expressed by PPs headed by to and for respectively. We distinguish five verb classes according to which of the following constructions they license: ditransitive, monotrasitive with to phrase, monotrasitive with for phrase.
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IO + DO
i.a. I gave her the key.
ii.a. *I explained her the problem.
iii.a. I bought her a hat.
iv.a. *I borrowed her the money.
v.a. I spared her the trouble.
DO + non-core comp
i.b. I gave the key to her. [IO or to]
ii.b. I explained the problem to her. [to only]
iii.b. I bought a hat for her. [IO or for]
iv.b. I borrowed the money for her. [for only]
v.b. *I spared the trouble to/for her. IO only]
The (a) examples are ditransitive, whereas the (b) ones are monotransitives containing a non-core complement after the direct object. Examples of verbs belonging to the five classes are given in:
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i. IO or to: award, bequeath, bring, cable, deny, feed, give, hand, kick, leave, lend, offer, owe, past, post, promise, read, sell, send, show, take, teach, tell, throw, write.
ii. to only: announce, confess, contribute, convery, declare, deliver, donate, exhibit, explain, mention, narrate, refer, return, reveal, say, submit, transfer.
iii, IO or for: bake, build, buy, cook, design, fetch, find, get, hire, leave, make, order, reach, rent, reserve, save (1), sing, spare (1), write.
iv. for only: acquire, borrow, collect, compose, fabricate, obtain, recover, retrieve, withdraw.
v. IO only: allow, begrudge, bet, charge, cost, envy, excuse, fine, forgive, permit, refuse, save (2), spare (2), strike, tax, tip, wish.
The subscripts [numbers within parentheses] indicate different senses. For leave we have He left (1) everything to his wife ("bequeathed"), Class (i), and I've left (2) some spaghetti for you, etc.
