Revisiting the evidence for objects in English
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Matthias L.G. Meyer
Abstract
The present paper challenges the long-standing distinction between direct and indirect objects and the status of the latter as a central grammatical category. My points of departure are the frameworks developed by Quirk et al. (1985), Aarts and Aarts (1982) and Huddleston and Pullum (2002 and 2005) where the separation of syntax and semantics is not strict enough to yield a syntactically appropriate notion of objects in English. A new theory of verb complementation referred to as “Passivisable Object Theory” (“PO Theory”) is proposed which stipulates that objects must be passivisable by definition. It is also shown that passivisation itself neither introduces nor eliminates prepositions. Thus both (a) She gave Mary a book and (b) She gave a book to Mary allow for only one passivisation each and consequently nothing but the first NP is classed as object in either structure. A book in (a) will be reclassified as a “complement extension” or CE (a new type of complement) and the PP in (b) as a “predicator complement” or PC (category adapted from Aarts and Aarts). This has far-reaching consequences for the entire system of transitive verbs and will – against Mukherjee (2005) – marginalise ditransitive structures and show that syntax is more independent of semantics than many grammarians would acknowledge. My claims are supported by evidence from BNC Baby and contrasted with examples from Victorian novels.
Abstract
The present paper challenges the long-standing distinction between direct and indirect objects and the status of the latter as a central grammatical category. My points of departure are the frameworks developed by Quirk et al. (1985), Aarts and Aarts (1982) and Huddleston and Pullum (2002 and 2005) where the separation of syntax and semantics is not strict enough to yield a syntactically appropriate notion of objects in English. A new theory of verb complementation referred to as “Passivisable Object Theory” (“PO Theory”) is proposed which stipulates that objects must be passivisable by definition. It is also shown that passivisation itself neither introduces nor eliminates prepositions. Thus both (a) She gave Mary a book and (b) She gave a book to Mary allow for only one passivisation each and consequently nothing but the first NP is classed as object in either structure. A book in (a) will be reclassified as a “complement extension” or CE (a new type of complement) and the PP in (b) as a “predicator complement” or PC (category adapted from Aarts and Aarts). This has far-reaching consequences for the entire system of transitive verbs and will – against Mukherjee (2005) – marginalise ditransitive structures and show that syntax is more independent of semantics than many grammarians would acknowledge. My claims are supported by evidence from BNC Baby and contrasted with examples from Victorian novels.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
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Part I. Setting the scene
- Technology and phraseology 15
- Corpus-driven approaches to grammar 33
- Valency – item-specificity and idiom principle 49
- Fowler’s Modern English Usage at the interface of lexis and grammar 69
- The psycholinguistic reality of collocation and semantic prosody (1) 89
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Part II. Considering the particulars
- The lexicogrammar of present-day Indian English 117
- The semantic and grammatical overlap of as and that 137
- The historical development of the verb doubt and its various patterns of complementation 153
- The grammatical properties of recurrent phrases with body-part nouns 171
- A corpus-based investigation of cognate object constructions 189
- Revisiting the evidence for objects in English 211
- Lexico-functional categories and complex collocations 229
- Polysemy and lexical priming 247
- Local textual functions of move in newspaper story patterns 265
- Loud signatures 289
- Index 317
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. Setting the scene
- Technology and phraseology 15
- Corpus-driven approaches to grammar 33
- Valency – item-specificity and idiom principle 49
- Fowler’s Modern English Usage at the interface of lexis and grammar 69
- The psycholinguistic reality of collocation and semantic prosody (1) 89
-
Part II. Considering the particulars
- The lexicogrammar of present-day Indian English 117
- The semantic and grammatical overlap of as and that 137
- The historical development of the verb doubt and its various patterns of complementation 153
- The grammatical properties of recurrent phrases with body-part nouns 171
- A corpus-based investigation of cognate object constructions 189
- Revisiting the evidence for objects in English 211
- Lexico-functional categories and complex collocations 229
- Polysemy and lexical priming 247
- Local textual functions of move in newspaper story patterns 265
- Loud signatures 289
- Index 317
