Hi,
I am curious about:
- I told John the story.
- I told the story to John.
Is there any difference therebetween?
Thank you!
No, there isn’t.
the first one is more natural, but grammatically both are correct.
They both occur in great frequency. Don’t feel that using either would be found awkward.
Just like the way we use with “to give, to send, to lend…”
eg. I gave him a letter and I gave a letter to him
but I bought him a present -> I bought a present for him
I’d feel,
- I told John the story. >> John heared the story.
- I told the story to John. >> John may have or have not heared the story.
So, in some situation, they are not interchangeable?
No, Haihao. You may have told him the story, but that does not mean he heard it. (Please note the spelling.) That holds true for either example.
I told John the story, but he didn’t hear it.
I told the story to John, but he didn’t hear it.
Of course, if you told someone something and the person didn’t hear it, you would have to state that to be understood.
I’m still curious, Mordant (thanks for the spelling). But how about:
- ??I told John the story, but he has his ears plugged.
- I told the story to John , but he has his ears plugged.
Both those examples are the same. All such verbs, ditransitive verbs, work this way. If used simultaneously with direct and indirect objects, the indirect object can be omitted and turned into a prepositional phrase that preserves the sentence’s meaning.
I bought Sally a cake.
I bought a cake for Sally.
I sent John a letter.
I sent a letter to John.
I took him the ball.
I took the ball to him.
I gave him the phone.
I gave the phone to him.
OK, thank you very much, Mordant.