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I was having a look on usage of name as verb here. I could understand the meaning of following correct usages.

  • He named his dog Shandy.
  • He could not name his attacker.
  • Name a pet animal.

I want to ask whether following usages of name as verb is grammatically correct.

USAGE 1:

Can you name me a pet animal?

If yes, which of the following describes the situation.

1. a name of any pet animal is being asked.
2. The interrogator is asking his name to be changed to a pet animal.

USAGE 2:

Sandy could not name me his attacker?

If yes, which of the following describes the situation.

1. Sandy could not tell me the name of his attacker.
2. Sandy did not accuse me as his attacker.
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  • The me hasn't much business being there unless the naming is of me in the first place :)
    – Kris
    Commented Nov 4, 2014 at 10:19
  • 2
    It serves the same purpose as the "me" in "Could you draw me a tree?" or "Could you sing me a song?" There is an implied "for" in front of it. This is similar to the implied "to" before "you" in "I'm going to give you a gift" or the implied "to" before "Dad" in "I wrote Dad a letter". In some circumstances the preposition before a dative may be omitted.
    – tobyink
    Commented Nov 4, 2014 at 10:30

1 Answer 1

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Usage 1:

Can you name me a pet animal?

This is correct. At least it is not uncommon among colloquial native speakers in North America. You probably won't see this wording in a textbook, but then you'd rarely see the first person in a textbook anyway.

If yes, which of the following describes the situation.

Neither. The questioner is asking for a type of animal that is a pet. Dog would be an acceptable answer. Buddy (a common name for a dog) would not.

Usage 2:

Sandy could not name me his attacker?

This is incorrect. You could rephrase this to Could Sandy not name his attacker?, in which case I am asking whether Sandy was able to provide the name of the attacker.

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