Talk:write

Usage notes
The transitive AmE use with the recipient as the grammatical object is shown in the following example from the New Yorker: I had written my mother about all this ( 1987 ). This construction, formerly standard in BrE, is now in restricted use unless accompanied by a second (direct) object, as in I shall write you a letter as soon as I land in Borneo. --Backinstadiums (talk) 16:43, 11 August 2021 (UTC)
 * In American English, you can write (to) someone: She writes me every month. You write someone a letter, so ✗Don’t say: *Please write to me a letter soon. "Write" is often used in the progressive: I am writing to tell you something important.--Backinstadiums (talk) 17:24, 22 August 2021 (UTC)
 * If the indirect object is a pronoun, it usually goes in front of the direct object. If the indirect object is not a pronoun, it usually goes after the direct object with to in front of the indirect object, Once a week she wrote a letter to her husband. --Backinstadiums (talk) 17:52, 22 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Are you saying that usage in the progressive is specific to AmE? Thank you for these notes, although they could be attributed more clearly. --Chealer (talk) 10:34, 2 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Backinstadium's comment comes from recent editions of Henry Watson Fowler's A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, which remain copyrighted. The new Fowler's modern English usage (1996) contains the full entry at page 858, which can be seen on the Internet Archive. The original edition (1926), which is no longer copyrighted, documents the same complication on page 738, with a somewhat different explanation:
 * A 2009 post on the Separated by a Common Language blog has more. --Chealer (talk) 12:06, 2 May 2024 (UTC)
 * A 2009 post on the Separated by a Common Language blog has more. --Chealer (talk) 12:06, 2 May 2024 (UTC)