“They created me a business-objects ID.”

Common English Blunders, Devolution toward Simpler, Prepositions

I heard this during a conference call.

Problem:
The preposition “for” is missing from this sentence.

Explanation:
This statement looks as odd as it sounded.

I believe that one source of the problem is that the speaker put herself first in the statement. If she had moved herself to the end of the sentence, then she would have gotten “They created a business-objects ID me.” — clearly wrong!

It’s clear that what is missing in the re-statement is the preposition “for”. In other words, “They created a business-objects ID for me.” is one of the solutions to the problem.

I believe that the absence of “for” in the statement also supports my “Devolution toward Simpler” hypothesis. It’s simpler to say “created me” than to say “created for me”.

Putting the reference to the speaker first while retaining the needed preposition “for” gives us the other solution to the problem.

Solutions:
“They created a business-objects ID for me.”
or
“They created for me a business-objects ID.”