Learn English – ny difference between these two sentences

adjunctsgrammarword-order

Is there any difference between these two sentences:

  1. He explained to her what he meant.
  2. He explained what he meant to her.

I feel 'what he meant' should be treated as the direct object and 'to her' as the indirect object, thus the latter one should be correct and the first one incorrect?

Or maybe the latter is correct because you explain SOMETHING to SOMEBODY and not the other way around? I have a feeling the latter one is correct but I just need a confirmation, possibly with an explanation, Please.

Also, in this sentence:

  1. We had some great scenes in the series with Elizabeth.

Would it be possible to change the place of the adjunct( that is 'with Elizabeth', I believe it's an adjunct) and
say:

  1. We had some great scenes WITH ELIZABETH in the series

Is the place of the adjunct fluid and does it depend solely on the speaker where to use it? Is there a general rule?

Best Answer

In both your examples, the meaning of the sentences is the same, however the emphasis is placed differently

He explained to her what he meant.

the emphasis is on his explanation to her, whereas in

He explained what he meant to her.

The emphasis is on explaining what he meant.

The same goes for your second set of examples.
The first emphasises that "he had great scenes in the series", the second that "he had great scenes with Elizabeth".

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