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  1. 'He told me a story' Me- indirect object(it answers question from 'whom')

A story- direct object (it answers question from 'what')

2.'He asked me to go' Here, 'me'- indirect object and also the agent of Infinitive (doer of Infinitive)

'To go'- A direct object (as It answers question of what, 'he asked me what'....the reply would be 'to go'. But it is also giving the sense of an Adverb as it answers 'why' 'Why he asked me'.....the answer would be 'to go'

So I am confused....here 'to go' is an Adverb or a Direct object. And please correct me If I'm wrong anywhere.

  1. 'He told me to go' 'To go ' here is a direct object or Adverb?
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  • See my answer below and here:link
    – BillJ
    Mar 31, 2021 at 7:24

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He asked me [to go].

No: the bracketed infinitival clause is neither an object nor an adverb.

This is called a catenative construction, where "asked" is a catenetive verb and the subordinate clause is its catenative complement.

The intervening noun phrase "me" is the syntactic object of "asked", and the semantic (understood) subject of the subordinate clause.

The term 'catenative' is derived from the Latin word for "chain", which is appropriate here since the verbs "ask" and "go" do indeed form a chain, separated (in this case) only by the NP "me".

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  • I have read somewhere(Grammar quizzes.com).....that 'He asked me to go' gives two sense..... first 'he is telling me to go'...and second 'he wants my permission so that he can go'.....so if I said 'he asked me to go' in second sense..then in this case 'me' is still Semantic subject or not?
    – RADS
    Mar 31, 2021 at 7:53
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    Your second interpretation is less likely than the first, but it is possible, in which case the understood subject of "go" would be "he". "Me" would still be the Od of "asked".
    – BillJ
    Mar 31, 2021 at 8:24
  • Is there any site or any book where I can learn all kinds of verbs and learn grammar well.....bcz till now I only knew 'Transative/Intransitive , Finite/Non-finite, regular/irregular, Static/dynamic, linking verb.....and Then catenative verb.....I had never even heard it before u told me. is there still any kind of verb remaining?
    – RADS
    Mar 31, 2021 at 9:13
  • @RADS Try Googling 'catenative'. link There's plenty of info on the 'Net.
    – BillJ
    Mar 31, 2021 at 9:26

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