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Intransitive verb - indirect object

From your web site

"Jonathen skidded on the ice "

Skid = the verb. And because you can't skid something, it's an intransitive verb.

But Jonathen skidded or the car skidded so an object (person, car, dog) can skid. I can therefore make something skid.

I'm obviously missing something in my understanding of this. Please help.

Many thanks

Re: Intransitive verb - indirect object

(1) "Jonathan skidded on the ice".

No, because the subject "Jonathan" is the doer of the action, not the recipient of it. "On the ice" is treated as a locative (or manner) adjunct. It tells us where/how he skidded.


(2) "Jonathan hurt himself skidding on the ice".

To express a meaning where the subject causes and receives the action, a reflexive pronoun is required. In this example, "Jonathan" is the antecedent for the reflexive pronoun "himself", so the meaning is that the person hurt was the same as the one who caused the hurt: "Jonathan hurt Jonathan".




PaulM