Two-Object Verbs: Give Someone Something vs Give Something to Someone

Level B1 · Verb Patterns

Many verbs — give, tell, send, show, buy, offer, teach, lend, bring, pass, promise, pay, write, read — can take two objects: an indirect object (the person) and a direct object (the thing), and English allows two different word orders for the same idea. She gave him a book and She gave a book to him mean the same thing, but they place the person and the thing in a different order around the verb. (This is the active-voice partner of Indirect Passive: Verbs with Two Objects, which looks at what happens when one of these two objects becomes the subject of a passive sentence — here we're choosing between the two active word orders.)

Two word orders are possible, and the preposition depends on the verb:

• Pattern 1 — verb + person + thing (no preposition): the natural, most common order, especially with a short, simple direct object: She gave him a book; I sent my mother some flowers; He showed the children his photos.
• Pattern 2 — verb + thing + preposition + person: used to give extra emphasis to the thing, or when the direct object is long: She gave a book to him; I sent some flowers to my mother; He showed his photos to the children.
• Most two-object verbs use to, because something is literally transferred to the person: give, tell, send, show, offer, teach, lend, bring, pass, promise, pay, write, read — I lent him my car / I lent my car to him.
• A smaller group uses for instead, because the action is done for the person's benefit rather than transferred to them: buy, cook, make, find, get, order — She bought him a present / She bought a present for him; He cooked us dinner / He cooked dinner for us.

The most common mistake is using to with a for-verb: She bought a present to him is wrong — buy doesn't transfer anything to anyone, it's done for someone's benefit, so it needs for: She bought a present for him. The same applies to cook, make, find, get, and order. A second frequent mistake is keeping Pattern 1 when the direct object is a pronoun (it, them) — Give me it and Show her them sound unnatural in standard English; once the thing is a pronoun, switch to Pattern 2 with to: Give it to me, Show them to her.

Look for a verb followed immediately by two noun phrases with no preposition between them — that's Pattern 1, person first, thing second. A verb followed by a thing and then to/for + person is Pattern 2. Check which preposition the verb needs: to for verbs of transfer (give, send, show, tell, teach, lend), for for verbs of benefit (buy, cook, make, find, get, order). And if the direct object is it or them, expect Pattern 2 with to, not Pattern 1.

Practice

To or For? Choosing the Right Preposition · Pronouns: It and Them