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What is the difference between following sentences?

  1. They show me a cent.

  2. They show me to a cent.

Does that “to” change the meaning of the sentence? What I think is it is a archaic structure. “They show me to a cent” means they gift (or give) me a cent.

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Yes, it does.

According to the Cambridge Dictionary

show verb (LEAD) ​

[ T usually + adv/prep ] to take someone somewhere by going there with them:

Could you show Dr Sanchez into the living room?
The waiter showed us to our table.

Have you noticed the second example from the dictionary, the one that uses the preposition to?
The waiter took the costumers [someone] to the table [somewhere] accompanying them to their seats [going there with them].

In your second sentence, they take you to the place where a very interesting cent was placed. In your first sentence no movement is implied, they just let you see a cent.

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    Technically "show me to a cent" could also imply they want you to take your cent out and show it the person. "Look, little cent, there's a person here!" (But that would be kind of crazy.)
    – Showsni
    Commented Aug 30, 2019 at 9:03
  • @JasonBassford Yes, that's what I said - show me (the thing being shown) to a cent (the thing that I am being shown to).
    – Showsni
    Commented Aug 31, 2019 at 23:01
  • @JasonBassford Right - I'm talking to the cent, and showing it there's a person here. I'm showing the person (me, in this case) to the cent.
    – Showsni
    Commented Sep 1, 2019 at 18:00
  • @JasonBassford In what way would that be showing the cent to the person? To show a cent to a person, I'd be saying "Hello person. Here is a cent. I am showing it to you." Whereas here, I am showing the person to a cent - "Hello cent. Here is a person. I am showing it to you."
    – Showsni
    Commented Sep 3, 2019 at 11:34
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They show me a cent.

means that they showed you a penny piece, a cent.

They show me to a cent.

does not really make much sense.

They showed me to a seat.

means that they directed or conducted you to a seat, perhaps in a theater or concert house.

Please show me to a seat

is a request to be so conducted.

Other locations could be specified:

  • He showed me to a table.
  • He showed me to a post office.
  • He showed me to the exit.

and each ocf these could be used in the "please show me to" form. If the object is instead a person or an animate being, as in:

  • He showed me to the queen.
  • He showed me to the audience.
  • He showed me to a possible employer

it could mean that you were displayed, rather than conducted, to the queen, audience, or employer. But this form doesn't really make sense unless the object is a living being, or something that can perceive things. Perhaps:

  • He showed me to the camera, which recorded my image.
  • They showed the victim to the lions.

This form will often be ambiguous, because one cannot tell without additional context if the subject ("me" or "the victim" in the examples) is being conducted or displayed.

One of the comments is (a bit unclearly, perhaps) suggesting this form with an object of "a cent". But that only works if one assumes or pretends that a cent can see or at least perceive things, which normally it cannot.

The form "they show me to an X" only works as part of a present tense narratrion, a somewhat unusual form, such as:

They hear me knock. They open the door to me. They show me to the director's office.

This is possible, and grammatically correct, but sufficiently unusual as to feel a bit unnatural, in my view.

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If you use ditansitive pattern(He showed me a cent. She showed him a photo you imply successful tranfer. Someone (Indirect object: me/him) has actually seen a cent/ photo. Complement pattern doesn't suggest succesful transfer- you may show it, but the other person may not see it. Take a look at the polysemy of ditransitive construction (Goldberg, A.E., 1995: 38)

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    Your answer is very difficult to understand. Can you hit Edit and clarify what you mean, please?
    – whiskeychief
    Commented Sep 3, 2019 at 0:32
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    I do not think that the distinction you are making between succesful and possibly unsuccessful transactions is at all implied by the use or non-use of "to"
    – David Siegel
    Commented Sep 3, 2019 at 1:48

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