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Difficulty: MediumNouns and Noun Phrases

Consider the following sentence:

'The university senate awarded the most outstanding graduating student a prestigious research grant during the annual convocation.'

What syntactic function does the bolded noun phrase perform in this sentence?

  1. Indirect object of the verbAnswer
  2. B
    Direct object of the verb
  3. C
    Subject complement of the clause
  4. D
    Appositive modifying the subject

Answer

The bolded noun phrase functions as the indirect object of the verb.
In ditransitive clause patterns following verbs of transfer like 'awarded', the noun phrase that receives the item comes immediately after the verb and functions as the indirect object. Because 'the most outstanding graduating student' names the recipient of the grant, it is the indirect object.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the main predicate structure of the sentence
The verb 'awarded' functions as a ditransitive verb requiring two object arguments: a receiver and a item.
In standard English clause syntax [Subject + Verb + Indirect Object + Direct Object], ditransitive verbs take two complement noun phrases.
2
Identify the semantic role and syntactic position of the bolded noun phrase
The noun phrase 'the most outstanding graduating student' precedes the direct object ('a prestigious research grant') and denotes the recipient.
The entity receiving the entity transferred by the verb is syntactically defined as the indirect object.

Key Concept

Syntactic functions of noun phrases (Indirect Object vs Direct Object in ditransitive verb structures)
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Topics

Nouns and Noun Phrases

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