Andromeda Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 Hello, dear Hive! I am a long time reader of about four years. You all have guided me on the homeschooling adventure and I find many ideas and threads helpful. Up until now I have not had a need to make an actual post because my questions have been answered by existing discussion. I hope I can articulate my question in a way that makes sense. I am helping a friend whose first language is not English. Here are the two statements, which I know are different, but I cannot explain why. Can anyone help please or point me to a grammar rule I can use? Thank you so much! Statement 1: She is calling her mother. Statement 2: I am explaining to her why she needs to wash her hands. Why don't we say "She is calling to her mother" or "I am explaining her...." Why is the preposition "to" in the second statement but not the first? I tried to diagram these sentences but I don't know enough about diagramming to see any differences in construction. Any insight will be much appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 She is calling her mother is just a statement about "her." The "to" in the second sentence makes it about the relationship between the two things (the 'I' and the 'her') and that the object if the sentence is her. We say "I am explaining her homework" because that sentence is about me ("I"). "I am explaining her homework to her" shows a relationship and changes the object of the sentence away from me ("I"). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bics Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 I think: Statement 1-She (subject) is calling (helping verb and verb) her mother (direct object). The mother is literally the object of the call. She "receives" the action. Changing that to "She is calling to her mother" makes it: she(subject) is calling (helping verb and verb) to her mother (prepositional phase). Maybe this is a difficult sentence to use as an object lesson because it is hard to imagine the mother not hearing the call in both examples. Change it to a sentence like "She is singing a song" or She is singing to a song." First example, a song is receiving the action; it is being sung, therefore it is the direct object. The second sentence doesn't make sense. She is telling a story vs. She is telling to a story...you see where this is going. "To" is working as a preposition; prepositions just connect nouns to the rest of the sentence, but they are expendable. Statement 2--I am explaining to her why she needs to wash her hands. Who is the sentence about? I- Subject I what? am explaining-verb phrase (helping verb and verb) I am explaining what? WHY she needs to wash her hands (I can't get into all this right now; it would hurt my head) explaining to whom or what? her-indirect object "to her" is a prepositional phrase, but I think it might be working as an indirect object. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bics Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 Maybe someone who is currently using Shurley Grammar will weigh in? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Posted October 16, 2016 Author Share Posted October 16, 2016 Thank you, Whipporwill and okbud for your thoughtful and detailed responses! I really appreciate the time you took to write everything out. I think it is beginning to make sense to me, and I will print out this thread and share with my friend. I am going to look up prepositional phrases as well as other concepts described in your answers. I didn't think to try replacing some of the words to see if the pattern still worked, what a great idea! Thank you again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 Statement 2--I am explaining to her why she needs to wash her hands. Who is the sentence about? I- Subject I what? am explaining-verb phrase (helping verb and verb) I am explaining what? WHY she needs to wash her hands (I can't get into all this right now; it would hurt my head) explaining to whom or what? her-indirect object "to her" is a prepositional phrase, but I think it might be working as an indirect object. Her is definitely the indirect object, but an indirect object doesn't usually need a preposition, in fact, we are told in English grammar that if there's a preposition, it is no longer an indirect object. For example: Throw me the ball. Throw the ball to me. Same objects, but in the second we are told 'me' is no longer an IO because it now has a preposition in front of it. Pronouns only have one object case in English, so it doesn't really matter. In other languages with indirect and direct object cases that differ, the pronoun after the preposition would retain its indirect case. The usual pattern in English is also S V IO DO. When you move the IO to a prepositional phrase, it usually comes after the DO, as in the ball throwing example above. The verb "explain" does break this rule. You hear ESL students making this mistake all the time . Explain me why. <- That should work. It doesn't. One way to look at it is the verb could be considered as "explain to", with the 'to' not being a preposition but an adverbial particle, as in "sit down", but I'm not sure this explanation fits completely. Can anyone think of another verb that acts like this? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bics Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 This is fun; I love puzzles. i am just beginning Latin grammar studies with my eldest, but I have heard from other who are ahead o me that grammar is easier to teach in Latin. And that in days when it was common to know Latin, if a writer was having trouble composing a clear sentence, s/he could translate it into Latin, then back into English and find the pitfalls. Here's hoping!!!! Lol 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Posted October 17, 2016 Author Share Posted October 17, 2016 Thank you so much, Matryoshka! The verb "explain" does break this rule. You hear ESL students making this mistake all the time . Explain me why. <- That should work. It doesn't. One way to look at it is the verb could be considered as "explain to", with the 'to' not being a preposition but an adverbial particle, as in "sit down", but I'm not sure this explanation fits completely. Can anyone think of another verb that acts like this? This is precisely the issue my friend is having. The verb does not fit a pattern she is used to, and I have not been able to find an adequate explanation. We tried making a connection to her primary language, but the structure is completely different, so that did not work. I really appreciate everyone's help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.