Page 69 - IELTS Preparation Grammar and Vocab

Verb patterns (1) 9

Grammar

Interactions between infants will often copy parental speech. (transitive)
Fetch me your hat. (transitive)
Infants are keen to interact with others. (intransitive)
A verb is transitive if it can be followed by one object (e.g. copy parental speech) or two objects (e.g. Fetch
me your hat). If a verb has two objects, the first (the indirect object) is usually a person or group of people
and the second (the direct object) is a thing. If a verb can't be followed by an object it is intransitive (e.g.
interact) and it can't have a passive form.

eJ Verbs with two objects
After many verbs with two objects, we can reverse the order of the objects if we put for or to before the indirect
object:
I recently bought my two-year-old daughter a cuddly elephant or I recently bought a cuddly elephant for my
two-year-old daughter.
A child might offer their mother some food. or A child might offer some food to their mother.
We often use this pattern (with for or to) to focus particular attention on the indirect object or when the
indirect object is much longer than the direct object:
She lent the book to one of the students who asked for some additional reading (not&he-lent-one-ofthe-

We use for + indirect object with verbs such as build,find and get:
Go to the toy box and find the car for me. or Go to the toy box and find me the car.
We use to + indirect object with verbs such as give, offer and show
She gave a toy to me orShe gave me a toy.
We can use either for or to + indirect object with verbs such as play, read and write. Often there is a difference
in meaning
couldn't find her email address, so I had to write a letter to her.
She was too young to write herself so I wrote the letter for her. (= instead of her)
Sometimes the meaning is very similar
Reading stories for/to young children is an important part of this process.
Some verbs with two objects cannot have their objects reversed with for/to, including ask, guarantee and refuse:
Most parents ask themselves the question: 'Did they copy that from us?' (not ... 05k-the-emestiengefite-
the/mils—. ...)
lithe direct object is a pronoun, we usually use direct object + for/to + indirect object:
bought it for my daughter. Give it to me.
While I bought my daughter it and Give me it might be heard in informal speech, this pattern is usually
considered to be bad style and should be avoided in writing and in Cambridge English: Advanced.
Some verbs can only have two objects in the pattern direct object +for/to + indirect object:
for (These verbs indude collectfix and mend.)
Mend this for me. (notMenei-me-thisr)
to (These verbs indude describe, explain and mention.)
Dr Jackman will be describing this process to you in detail. (not
in-cietark)

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