dote on

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1
  1. I found this sentence - “Grandmother dotes on her the twins”
    in thefreedictionary.
    Is it grammatically OK?
  2. I think ‘dote’ is the only verb that can be used only as phrasal verb - ‘dote on’.
    Please comment.
2

‘… her the’ is incorrect. It should be one or the other.
The rest is fine.

3

Mr. Beeesneees,
For my #2 statement, I don’t find your comment.
I am eager to hear from you.
Thanks.

4

I didn’t comment because it seemed like a statement rather than a question.
I don’t know if it’s the only one. I can’t think of another right now, so perhaps it is.

5

There is apparently another meaning of “dote” that can be used without “on”/“upon”, defined in M-W as “to exhibit mental decline of or like that of old age : be in one’s dotage”. I can’t say I remember ever hearing this meaning, so I think it’s pretty rare.

My expectation is that there are one or two other English verbs that are always used with a certain preposition … but unfortunately I can’t think of any right now!

6

I am familiar with that meaning of dote (dotage), so don’t think it’s particularly rare.

7

“dotage” is familiar of course, but do you mean you’ve heard the verb used like “he dotes” meaning “he is in his dotage” (which is what I understand the dictionary definition to mean)? I’ve never heard that one…

8

My grandfather is now old and dotes - yes.

9

Oh, OK, well that kind of invalidates Allifathima’s original premise…