An Account of Dative-Double Object Alternation in terms of Selectional Properties and Its Educational Implication

Larson (1988) claimed that the double object construction can be derived from the oblique dative structure via Dative Shift. However, the dative and double object alternation is not always possible. Verbs like donate can appear in the oblique dative construction but do not have a corresponding double object counterpart whereas verbs like spare allow double objects but do not have a corresponding oblique dative construction. To explain this Larson proposed an account in terms of thematic properties of the verbs, recoverability of thematic information associated with prepositions, and unavailability of a preposition which can co-occur with the verbs. However, this account is problematic because thematic properties of verbs and prepositions can be controversial. To avoid this problem I propose an alternative account based on selectional properties of verbs.