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Re: Name that case

From:Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>
Date:Sunday, November 11, 2007, 22:32
Note that there are some subtleties here in English.

"I'm taking the book to John"

is equivalent to

"I'm taking John the book"

So John is said to be the "indirect object" in both cases (even though
he's technically the object of the preposition "to" in the first
sentence), and would normally be in the dative case in languages that
have such.  On the other hand:

"I'm taking my son to the doctor"

is NOT equivalent to

"I'm taking the doctor my son"

In the first sentence, "to" is not specifying an indirect object, but
a destination.  The doctor would tend to be in the allative case in
languages that have such.