Second, the direct object in this example is clearly "her." We can't argue that "her" is an indirect object and "three times" is the direct object, although on the surface of it, this example seems to have the same structure as something like, "I sent her three letters," where "her" is indeed the indirect object and "three letters" is the direct object. Let's look at their example, "I saw her three times": First, as the authors say, "three times" is a frequency adjunct here. The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (p.
Twice and the archaic thrice in are adverbs, occurring elsewhere as frequency adjuncts, like the times NPs: I saw her twice/three times. Note the following (the first part refers to some examples that aren't relevant here, so I haven't included those examples, but the bolded part applies to your question):įorms consisting of cardinal numeral + times, as in, are clearly NPs. There's no doubt that "500 million times" is a noun phrase (headed by the noun "times"), but that doesn't mean it has to be a complement/object - NPs can sometimes be adjuncts too. Direct objects are core complements of a verb, not adjuncts. "500 million times" is indeed a frequency adjunct. I wrote that it is intransitive because there is no object here. "during an average lifetime" is a prepositional phrase that we can more or less ignore right now. In my view, "500 million times" is an adverbial expression of frequency. I'm not trying to be a know-it-all, and he's the one with a PhD, but is he right? And if so, does any expression of frequency turn an intransitive verb transitive? But no one is "breathing times" the way that we "breathe air," so what is he talking about? I can understand why sentences like, "I walked 1000 miles" might be considered transitive the miles could be considered the direct object, the thing that you walked. I think it makes more sense as a transitive verb. For it to be intransitive, you would have to argue that we have an elided preposition (one that is left out) in front of 500.
The verb can be both transitive and intransitive. I would mark that one as VT (transitive). " during an average lifetime" is a prepositional phrase that we can more or less ignore right now. We have this sentence, and we're supposed to mark whether the verb is transitive or intransitive.Ī human being breathes 500 million times during an average lifetime. But I'm taking a class related to advanced grammar and I need help understanding my professor's correction. I'm not a grammarian, I'm an EFL teacher.
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