Question:
My name is Boris Lashnev. I am Russian. I have been studying English for
some ten years, i.e. since I was 16 years old. I am a translator.
Will anyone help me?
According to most Grammars, an English verb can be used alone (eg 'I wept'),
or it can be followed by one object (it can be a noun (a noun phrase, to be
precise), a wh-clause, or that-clause, eg 'I was reading a book', 'I can
remember where I was', 'I know that it is true'), or there can be a
complement after a verb (it can be a noun or an adjective, eg 'She is a
nurse' , '', 'She is beautiful'), or a verb can be used with TWO objects
(the indirect object + the direct object; again, the direct object can be a
noun, a wh-clause, or that-clause, eg 'I gave him the money', 'I told him
how it happened', 'I bet you that something is true').
As far as I know, not a single grammar and not a single dictionary say that
there is a regular English verb contruction where MORE THAN TWO objects can
follow a verb.
But what about 'I bet you five pounds that something is true'?!! I know this
is good English, but here THREE objects follow the verb 'bet'.
It is possible to omit the 'five pounds' and say 'I bet you that something
is true', which is a regular two-noun structure "verb + indirect object +
direct object, which can be a that-clause".
But in 'I bet you five pounds that something is true' A THIRD OBJECT (ie
'five pounds') creeps in!!!
Some teachers of English say "This is a regular pattern of a complex
transitive verb", which is no good as complex transitive verb patterns are
quite different: 'This will make the story public', 'She made it clear that
she objected to the proposal' - in these examples there is a bunch of words
after the verbs, but the relationships between the words following the verbs
is different from the 'I bet you five pounds that something is true'. It IS
possible to say 'She will make it a dead cert that he will object' - here we
DO have three noun phrases after the verb, but only 'it' and 'that he will
object' are OBJECTS, 'a dead cert' being a COMPLEMENT (it can be the
adjective 'certain' instead of the noun phrase 'a dead cert') - the
relationship between the words in the sentence is different from 'I bet you
five pounds that sonething is true' where we have three OBJECTS with no
option of using an adjective instead of any of the three noun phrases.
Can you give me an explanation for the strange structure of the sentence 'I
bet you five pounds that sonething is true', which seems to have THREE
OBJECTS AFTER AN ENGLISH VERB? Can you supply other examples of the
three-object structure?
Answer:
In the sentence, "I bet you five pounds that something is true." "pounds" is the
direct object, "five" is an adjectival modifier, "you" is an indirect object
being the receipient of the direct object "pounds." "that some thing is true."
is a dependent clause that modifies the main clause and is unnecessary to
understand the thought conveyed.
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