Word.ws English Dictionary

dative shifts

dative shifts is the plural of dative shift.

Meaning of dative shift

Noun

dative shift (plural dative shifts)

  1. Relocation of the indirect object of a ditransitive verb from a prepositional phrase to a core argument or vice versa.
    • The clauses "I'll throw you the ball" and "I'll throw the ball to you" are related by dative shift.
  2. Of a language, dialect, or specific verb, a feature where indirect objects can be given not only in prepositional phrases, but alternatively as core arguments.
    • English "to donate" exhibits dative shift only in some dialects; while "I donate clothes to them" is universally accepted, some dialects reject "I donate them clothes" as ungrammatical, or at least unnatural-sounding.

Questions about dative shifts

What is dative shifts the plural of?
Dative shifts is the plural of dative shift.

Words near dative shifts in the dictionary

  1. dative cases
  2. dative executor
  3. dative executors
  4. dative of purpose
  5. dative shift
  6. dative shifts
  7. dative sickness
  8. datively
  9. datives
  10. datives of purpose
  11. dativity

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dative shifts (page history and authors); dative shift (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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