[Ads-l] Transitive "remind" without "of"

[Barretts Mail]

This is also ungrammatical to me.

I looked at Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/remind), Merriam-Webster (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/remind) and the OED, and found no examples after 1904 where the direct object has no introductory word such as provided by SM below. (“about” can also be added to the list.) ChatGPT concurs.

Here is also a discussion that says that you cannot use the indirect object without an introductory word:
https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/54278/remind-vs-remind-of

ChatGPT:
>> 
No, "I reminded him the homework" is not grammatically correct. You would need to include "of" or use a different structure, such as:

    "I reminded him of the homework."
    "I reminded him to do the homework."
<<


The OED starts out with a definition of “remember” under which there are older examples where the thing being “reminded” are direct objects:
1788 Ye'll now remind the happy show'r o' rain.

Under the transitive verb definition 2ai, the OED has one intransitive verb example:
1891 It will recall and remind and suggest and tantalise, and in the end drive you mad. 

It seems to me this should be moved to the first definition, though perhaps this is being considered to be ergative usage or poetic license.

There is also a borderline example in the OED where it appears a pause is being used to omit “that”:
1820     Allow me to remind you, grass is green.

Perhaps this last usage has lost its pause and is now spreading?

Benjamin Barrett (he/his/him)
Formerly of Seattle

> On Oct 26, 2024, at 13:43, Stanton McCandlish <smccandlish at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
>> "Please remind me your name"
> 
> Is this regional, or a recent development?
> 
> I have literally never heard that or anything like it in my life, only seen
> a handful of written cases in the last year or so, like "to remind people
> the power of voting".
> 
> This pattern ("remind X Y", where Y is any given noun phrase) seems clearly
> distinct from conventional of-less forms:
> 
> 
>   - "remind X [not] to Y"
>   - "remind X wh* Y" (what, when, where, which, who, whose, why)
>   - "remind X how Y"
>   - "remind X that Y" ("That" can be dropped in a construction in which it
>   has become optional/understood: "Remind Janet [that] her appointment is
>   tomorrow", "Remind him [that] the test is not optional".)
>   - "remind X in/on/by Y" where Y is a time/place ("Remind me in an hour",
>   "Remind him in Dallas" e.g. during a road trip, "Remind them on Tuesday",
>   "Remind us by next week". Preposition only sometimes droppable: "Remind
>   them Tuesday", "Remind us next week", but not *"Remind me an hour" or
>   *"Remind him Dallas".)
>   - "remind X Y", where Y is temporal adverb[ial phrase] or one
>   descriptive of manner  ("Remind me soon", "Remind him patiently but firmly")
>   - "remind X Z Y", where Z is a complex, more precise, but potentially
>   stilted replacement of one of the above ("remind X by what means Y" or
>   "remind X in what way Y" for "remind X how Y"; "remind X by what time Y"
>   for "remind X when Y"; etc.)
>   - "remind X", alone ("Remind him." Can take adverbial and parenthetical
>   additions: "Remind him soon", "Remind him, over there".)
> 
> 
> Maybe there's another sort I'm forgetting.
> 
> But "Remind X Y" where Y is a random noun phrase seems both very rare and
> very recent. I would think it is apt to be taken by most speakers (maybe
> only after a certain generational line?) as non-standard, perhaps as an
> accidental error, or a foreignism (like dropped noun/pronoun referent in
> "This feature allows to download more quickly", which is entering English
> by way of both German and some South Asian languages), or some kind of
> Internet/SMS slang (like "Because reasons").
> 
> Is there a region or subculture in which something like "Remind him the
> imporance of punctuality" is actually normative?
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org