Hello, teachers!

Please help me with this sentence, please!

- One day an older friend read [to] me news reports from the Spanish-American War.

This is from a textbook for 8th-grade in Korea.
I heard that even though we usually don't use "to" in this kind of sentences, the use is not incorrect. Then, in these sentences, can we use prepositions, too?

- She sang (to) us a beautiful folk song.
- She sent (to) me a car at the airport.
- She bought (for) me a luxurious, expensive long coat.
etc.

Thank you very much.
Best Regards.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: hogel,

The textbook sentence and the three further examples are not typical of English. With the verbs "read," "sing," "send," and "buy," the indirect object comes next, without a preposition, and is followed by the direct object.

The sentences should be:

"” One day an older friend read me [some] news reports from the Spanish-American War

"” She sang us a beautiful folk song

"” She sent me a car at the airport

"” She bought me a luxurious, expensive, long coat

One might encounter the version with prepositions (verb + preposition + indirect object + direct object) in poetry, but it's definitely not part of standard usage.

Another group of verbs "” those that require TO and that have Latin roots "” allow the TO-phrase to precede the direct object, especially when the direct object is long:

"” The teacher explained the procedure to each small group (usual word order) BUT

"” The teacher explained to each small group the procedure for extracting the chlorophyll from spinach

The verbs in Hogel's question, however, are not of this type.

Marilyn