The Indirect Object Transformation is complicated because it contradicts the Proximal Rule in English.
The Indirect Object Transformation will be our final example to underscore the complexity of this grammatical system that the children are trying to learn.
Take for example the simple Kernel sentence (Type II), "Mary brought Billy." In English, we know it was Mary who did it (the Subject), because she is the noun before the verb.
Billy, we know, is the recipient of the action (the Object) because he is the noun after the verb.
But what about the sentence, "Mary brought Billy to George." Now there are two nouns after the verb.
The Proximal Rule, however, tells us that the closest noun to the verb ("Billy") is still the object in the sentence.