Assignment help

[Harlow16]

I am supposed to answer this question:
Explain the difference in form and meaning between these following sentence pairs (i.e. define which grammatical features) create the difference in meaning):

1. S V --- dO -----
They elected his chairman.

2. S V iO dO
They elected him chairman



I have analysed them on a clause level and described the difference between their form. This is what I got so far:

These sentences contain a difference in the clause structure. Because of this difference, the phrase structure between the two sentences also differs.

The first sentence is a two-place verb with SVdO as its sentence structure. It contains a subject (they), a monotransitive verb (elected) and a direct object which follows the verb (his chairman).

The second sentence has a different sentence structure than the first sentence. It is a three-place verb which contains a ditransitive verb (elected) that combines with a direct object (chairman) and an indirect object (him).



Now I am kinda stuck, I don't know what to write next. Do you as teachers have any suggestions about how I should analyze them further on? Thank you for your answer, it will be to a lot of help.

 

[Frank Antonson]

1. S V --- dO -----
They elected his chairman.

2. S V iO dO
They elected him chairman

The first sentence is strange. It is a little hard to imagine the scenario, but clearly "chairman" is the direct object.

In the second sentence "chariman" is an objective complement. You could insert the words "to be" between "him" and "chairman", which might make it a little clearer. Would you like me to Reed-Kellogg the two sentences?