DIRECT, INDIRECT AND PREPOSITIONAL OBJECTS
SUMMARY
1 The Direct Object (Od) and Indirect Object (Oi) are central syntactic functions which encode participants in transitive clauses, and are identified by the following features:
2 Position. In clauses with one Object, The Direct Object follows the verb (She wanted to borrow a video). When there are two Objects, the Direct Object follows the Indirect Object (So I lent her (Oi) one (Od)).
3 Paraphrase. The Oi and Od usually have alternative prepositional paraphrases, with the status of a Prepositional Complement.
4 Pronominalization. Since objects encode participants, they are realized by objective case pronouns (me, him, her, us, them).
5 ‘Promotion’ to subject in a passive clause. Both direct and indirect objects usually have the potential of being subject in a corresponding passive clause (He sent them a fax. The fax (S) was sent. They (S) were sent a fax).
6 Semantic roles. The indirect object is associated with the Recipient and Beneficiary roles, the direct object with the Affected, among others.
7 Realizations. Both Objects are realized typically by Nominal Groups expressing entities; less typically by other classes of unit.
