ditransitive
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English
Etymology
From di- + transitive.
Adjective
ditransitive (not comparable)
- (grammar) Of a class of verbs which take both a direct and an indirect object. An example is 'give', which entails a giver (subject), a gift (direct object) and a receiver (indirect object).
- 1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 7, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 344:
- So far, we have considered only transitive Verbs which take a single NP Complement. However, there are a subset of transitive Verbs (known as ditransitive Verbs) which can take two NP Complements, as illustrated in (16) below (where the NP Complements are bracketed):
(16) (a) John gave [Mary] [a present]
(16) (b) The postman handed [me] [a parcel]
(16) (c) He showed [her] [his credentials]
(16) (d) He sent [his mother] [some flowers]
(16) (e) Never promise [anyone] [anything]
The relevant subcategorisation frame for Verbs used in this construction will be [— NP NP], indicating that they can take two NP Complements.
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Translations
having both a direct and indirect object — see also ditransitive verb
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Noun
ditransitive (plural ditransitives)