grammatically speaking...

[Laurence Horn]

At 6:27 PM -0500 1/8/03, Lois Nathan wrote:
>Joanne,
>     I'm trying to identify what is different between your three examples
>"send me an e-mail, drop me a line, write me when you get back" which work,
>and "explain me what you mean," which I don't think works.

These were studied intensively in the early years of generative
grammar, where the usual conclusion (which doesn't completely work)
was that "dative movement", the rule responsible for converting X
verbs Y to Z into X verbs Z Y, is "lexically governed" and in general
only applies (oversimplifying a bit) to native English (and typically
monosyllabic) as opposed to Latinate (and typically polysyllabic)
verbs.  Thus the contrasts in

She {gave/donated} all her money to the poor.
She {gave/*donated} the poor all her money.

I {told/related} the story to the children.
I {told/*related} the children the story.

I {sent/transmitted/conveyed} the package to my cousin.
I {sent/*transmitted/*conveyed} the package to my cousin.

and so on.  As predicted by the standard theory of the time
(mid-1960's), a "dative passive" is impossible in just those cases
where the dative form is impossible:

The poor were {given/*donated} the money.
The children were {told/*related} the story.
My cousin was {sent/*transmitted/*conveyed} the package.

As discussed in detail in books and dissertations of the era (see
especially Georgia Green's and Dick Oehrle's), it's more complicated
than this, but the generalization above does extend nicely to "tell",
"write", and "drop" as opposed to "explain".  It doesn't work,
however, for "offer" (which allows dative movement) or "say" (which
doesn't).

Oops, I see Arnold has addressed this too.  I'll post my message
anyway, since I think it complements, rather than being totally
supplanted by, his.

larry