Chapter 2 - Grammatical Foundations: StructureThe clausal complement of certain verbs have some properties in common with
objects. For example, these clauses can undergo movement in passive structures:
(67) a everyone believed [that Bill belly-dances]
b [that Bill belly-dances] was believed – by everyone
Presumably this is one of the reasons why verbs which have clausal complements have
traditionally been considered as transitive verbs. There are, however, a number of
differences between clausal and DP complements. One is that clauses obviously do not
appear in accusative Case. However, given that it is only the pronouns in English that
demonstrate Case distinctions, this is not surprising. Another difference is that not all
clausal complements can undergo passive movement:
(68) a [that Charley cheated] was considered by everyone
b [if Kevin likes coffee] was wondered by Wendy
Moreover, even in those cases where it can take place, the movement is an optional
one:
(69) a [that students attend exams] is expected by the university
b it is expected [that students attend exams] by the university
DP objects always move in passive structures:
(70) a Fiona was found by the search party
b * it was found Fiona by the search party
Given the differences between clausal and DP objects, we will, in this book,
reserve the term object for DP complements alone and will not extend it to clausal
complements as is sometimes done.
Overall, we see that the object receives a special treatment in the grammar, though
it is treated very differently to subjects.
2.3 Indirect object
Some verbs can have more than one object:
(71) Lucy lent Larry a lasso
This construction is known as the double object construction, for obvious reasons.
Interestingly, the two objects do not have the same properties. For one thing, their
orders are fixed in Standard English, though there are dialectal differences, especially
if either or both objects are expressed by a pronoun:
(72) a Lucy lent a lasso Larry (ungrammatical in Standard English)
b Lucy lent him it/it him (both grammatical in non-Standard English)
We call the object that immediately follows the verb in Standard English the indirect
object and the one that follows this, the direct object. The indirect object is more
often than not assigned the goal or beneficiary -role by the verb while the direct
object bears the theme -role.