SUBJECT – VERB – DIRECT OBJECT – PREPOSITIONAL COMPLEMENT
Although predicted by the verb, the PC in this ditransitive pattern (e.g. It reminds me of you) is further away from the verb and the NG is not a central participant. However, it encodes a participant that can be formally questioned (Of whom 1, For what 2) placed before the preposition or, informally, stranded. It can also occur in a wh-cleft 3:
1 Who does it remind you of? (Of whom does it remind you?)
2 What are you thanking me for? (For what are you thanking me?)
3 What it reminds me of is Italy.
In discourse, the PC may be omitted when its referent is understood, as in They blamed me (for something already mentioned). The Direct Object is usually a person and the PC may be an entity or an event.
Some of the verbs taking this construction are listed here according to preposition. Remember that a NG is placed between the verb and the preposition.
Only the direct object constituent can become subject in the passive clause:
Your skin will be protected from the sun’s rays.
She was robbed of her watch and jewels.
He was charged with assault.
Janet was congratulated on her success.
Blame, a three-place verb, admits two alternative constructions with different prepositions, which reflect the way the event is viewed in each case. The more central of the two participants is placed first, as Od. In one version this is Jane; in the other the accident.
blame someone (Od) for something (PC) He blamed Jane for the accident
blame something (Od) on someone (PC) He blamed the accident on Jane.
There are thus two passives – Jane was blamed for the accident, The accident was blamed on Jane – which centre respectively on ‘Jane’ and on ‘the accident’.
Likewise, the NG following the preposition can be questioned by who or what (What was Jane blamed for? Who was the accident blamed on?).
Other verbs that present a similar variation are supply, load and drain:
We supply the school with paper (PC). We supply paper(Od) to the school (PC).
They loaded the cart with hay. (PC). They loaded hay on to the cart. (Cloc).
They drained the pool of water. (PC). They drained water from the pool. (Clo).
With load and drain the cognitive representation is rather different with each alternative. With the receptacle the cart and the pool as object, there is a notion of totality: the cart is completely full of hay, the pool completely drained of water. By contrast, with hay and water as object, there is an impression of partialness: some hay is loaded, some water is drained. If the definite article is used (the hay, the water), the implication is of totality.
