Re: Ditransitivity (again!)

Trebor Jung wrote:

> Merhaba!
>
> Verbs like 'to throw' are not inherently ditransitive; 'to give', on
> the other hand, is. With 'to throw' (f'rinstance), you can have 'I
> throw the ball' and 'I throw the ball (to him)', where 'to him' is
> oblique, not mandatory. I consider ditransitives to be those verbs
> where you absolutely need an indirect object for the sentence to be
> grammatical - as well as a subject and object - and not where they
> can, but don't absolutely need, an indirect object.
>

'To give' doesn't need a grammatical indirect object, providing who the
giving-to has been establised, or is assumed by context.  For instance,
one can say 'I gave blood', which is completely grammatical.

> --Trebor