Direct and Indirect Objects with the verbs: Give, Buy, and Bring

Both these phrases are correct,

• Give me it
• Buy me them

so why are these sentences wrong?

• Give John it
• Buy John them

In these sentences, "me/John" are both indirect objects, and the sentence format is same. So, why are former sentences correct and latter ones wrong?

Also, Do it for me is correct but Do me it is wrong.

What is the reason for this?

The reason why constructions such as Give John it are questionable has to do with information packaging in English. A common pattern is Given-New, whereby given or known information precedes information that is new. In the example above the pronoun it clearly refers to something already known to the speaker and recipient of the utterance, whereas John is the new information.

Collins Cobuild English Grammar (p160) discusses this issue in connection with the decision to use a prepositional phrase instead of the indirect object:

It is normal to use this prepositional structure when the direct object is a pronoun.

• I took the bottle and offered it to Oakley.

This is because pronouns usually refer to things that have already been mentioned, that is, to information that is known to your reader or hearer. In English, new information usually comes at the end of the clause. So when the indirect object is new information and the direct object is not, the indirect iobject is put at the end of the clause.

Note that in informal spoken English, some people put the indirect object in front of the direct object when both objects are pronouns, For example, some people say 'He gave me it' rather than 'He gave it to me'. Both pronouns are unstressed and both refer to information that is already known, and so it does not matter what order they come in.

It is worth noting that in informal British English in particular you might also hear: 'He gave it me'.