فَلَا يُقَالُ أَعْلَمْتُ زَيْدًا خَيْرَ النَّاسِ، بَلْ يُقَالُ أَعْلَمْتُ زَيْدًا عَمْرًا خَيْرَ النَّاسِ
Translation: In this pattern one does not omit the subject of the reported predicate; instead one says: I informed Zayd that ʿAmr was the best of people.
In the rejected construction, “best of people” lacks its linked subject as part of the reported proposition. The corrected construction states both ʿAmr and the predicate.
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The Author’s Contrast: Incomplete versus Complete
Intransitive and Transitive Verbs: One, Two, Three Objects
فَلَا يُقَالُ أَعْلَمْتُ زَيْدًا خَيْرَ النَّاسِ، بَلْ يُقَالُ أَعْلَمْتُ زَيْدًا عَمْرًا خَيْرَ النَّاسِ
Translation: In this pattern one does not omit the subject of the reported predicate; instead one says: I informed Zayd that ʿAmr was the best of people.
In the rejected construction, “best of people” lacks its linked subject as part of the reported proposition. The corrected construction states both ʿAmr and the predicate.