Improper use of verbs taking two objects

带两个宾语的动词使用不当

　　给

　　give

　　Example:

　　Wrong：他给我很多帮助我。

　　Right：他给我很多帮助。

　　The double objects wrongly placed should be rearranged in this order: the object referring to person “我” immediately follows the verb and the object of non- Personal reference stays at the end of the sentence.

　　Example:

　　Wrong：他常常帮助我，我要给他一个感谢。

　　Right：他常常帮助我，我要感谢他。

　　Semantically, the predicate verb “给”does not go with the object “感谢”, neither does “一个”(a numeral-measure word phrase) match “感谢”as a modifier. The original sentence with double objects should be replaced by “感谢他”.

　　Example:

　　Wrong：到北京以后没有立刻给你一封信，请原谅。

　　Right：到北京以后没有立刻给你写信，请原谅。

　　The thought of the sentence is that the speaker did not follow the traditional custom to write the other party a letter. The proper form of expressing such meaning requires a preposition “给”to introduce the receiver of the action, rather than a verb, “给”taking double objects. The prepositional phrase “给你”serves as the adverbial adjunct of the predicate verb. Since the action of writing letter is fully negated, the numeral word “一”and the measure word “封”are not needed.

　　Example:

　　Wrong：他一本外文书还图书馆。

　　Right：他还图书馆一本外文书。

　　The object referring to thing (一本外文书) is in a wrong position. It should be placed after the other object “图书馆”.

　　Example:

　　Wrong：他要还两本杂志给阅览室。

　　Right：他要还给阅览室两本杂志。

　　In a double-object sentence with verb “还”, “给”emphasizes the tone of giving. To produce a grammatical sentence first move “给”to the right of verb “还”, then reverse the order of the two wrongly positioned objects following “还给”.

　　Example:

　　Wrong：阿里借我一本词典。

　　Right：阿里向我借一本词典。

　　Right：阿里借给我一本词典。

　　“借”in Chinese has two implications which are expressed in English by “borrow” and “lend” respectively. To avoid ambiguity, we either use preposition “向”to form the prepositional phrase “向我”as the adverbial adjunct of “借”, or add “借给”after the verb. The only possible explanation for “向我借”is to borrow, and “借给我”only means to lend.

　　Example:

　　Wrong：我问他去看电影，他立刻答应了。

　　Right：我请他去看电影，他立刻答应了。

　　The English equivalent for “问”in Chinese is “ask”, which expresses an inquiry (as in “ask a question”)as well as request (as in “May I ask a favor of you ?”). However “问”in Chinese never means request. The above sentence is not a request or an answer; it is an invitation. Thus “问”ought to be replaced by “请”.

　　Example:

　　Wrong：他们经常没有钱，但是不轻易问朋友帮助。

　　Right：他们经常没有钱，但是不轻易问朋友借钱。

　　Right：他们经常没有钱，但是不轻易请（求）朋友帮助。

　　If the verb “问”is used for asking someone for something, one may choose “借钱”to replace “帮助”. If the speaker wants to express the meaning of making a request, he ought to use “求”or “请求”in place of “问”.