An interesting Q&A from GrammarMastery on Quora

I’m not on Quora, but occasionally see grammar posts, and this one took me a minute to understand. This explanation is the best explanation I saw. It’s a good question, and once you understand the answer, I think it does contribute to “Grammar Mastery.”

If you’re on Quora, and you’re interested in grammar, you will probably find it interesting.

Grammar Mastery & Education Insights

Rick Coury

May 29

What is the best grammatical explanation for why “Give her her book” is considered correct, while “Give him him book” is not—aside from relying on how the sentence sounds to native speakers?

The first “her” and “him” in these sentences are indirect object pronouns.

Think of them as replacing nouns, e.g. “Give Mary the book.” “Give Jim the book”.

The second “her’ and “him” in these sentences should be possessive adjectives.

In the first sentence, the second “her” is a possessive adjective.

(We’re talking about her book.}

But the second “him” is not a posessive adjective. The possessive adjective needed is ‘”his”.

“Give hm his book.”

(We’re talking about his book.)