We need to look at one more kind of verb complement, and this is verbs which have more than one object. We call these 2 object verbs. Here are some examples:
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discuss s/th with s/o
get s/th from s/o
inform s/o about s/th
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offer s/o s/th
send s/o s/th
tell s/o s/th
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You can see from these examples that one object is usually a thing noun (s/th), and the other object is usually a person noun (s/o).
There are two kinds of 2 object verbs,
(1) Verbs where you can’t swap the order. We call these ‘non-invertible 2 object verbs.’
(2) Verbs where you can swap the order of the two objects. We call these ‘invertible 2 object verbs.’
The verbs in the left column above are non-invertible. You cannot say or write ‘discuss s/o with s/th’, for example. The ones in the right column above are invertible.
(1) With non-invertible 2 object verbs you often do not need to add the second object. However, if you want to add a second object to make your meaning really clear, you need to add an extra preposition
discuss s/th (with s/o)
get s/th (from s/o)
inform s/o (about s/th)
The difficulty when learning them is remembering which preposition you need to add.
(2) With invertible 2 object verbs, look what happens when you swap the objects:
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offer s/o s/th
send s/o s/th
tell s/o s/th
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offer s/th to s/o
send s/th to s/o
tell s/th to s/o
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I hope you can see that when you swap the order of objects, you also need to add in an extra preposition before the second object.
2 object verbs are important to know because many of the most common and useful verbs in business writing are 2 object verbs, and very often people make mistakes with these kind of verbs because they can be tricky to use.
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Verb complements
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→
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non-prepositional
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→
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V + n.p
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→
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V that + v.p.
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→
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V s/o to V
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→
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V Ving
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→
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2 object verbs
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→
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invertible
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→
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non-invertible
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→
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prepositional
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