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私は先生がネコを好きだと思います

Why を and not が twice?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-06T15:55:35.113
4210
2012-01-06T19:58:24.343
1031
question
grammar
Why is を used in this situation? 私は先生がネコを好きだと思います
私は先生が猫を好きだと思います sounds all right to me, while 私は先生は猫が好きだと思います would sound more
natural.

Actually the first sentence (in the OP) is more like answering to the question
asking 'Who likes cats?' while the other one (which I showed here) is
answering to 'What do you think your teacher likes?'

I wouldn't say 私は先生が猫が好きだと思います... Why not? It just sounds unnatural... Well I
might say that but wouldn't write that at least.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-06T16:54:33.637
4211
2012-01-06T17:01:32.487
2012-01-06T17:01:32.487
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answer
This is an interesting phenomenon. In a simpler sentence:

> 先生が猫が好きだ,

the predicate `好き` is a na-adjective, so it does not have the ability to
assign accusative case to its arguments. Therefore,

> ×先生が猫を好きだ

is ungrammatical. However, when it is embedded under a verb that can assign
accusative case and there is no other noun phrase that needs to be assigned
accusative case, then the object of `好き` can receive accusative case
(remotely) from that verb. Either the nominative (`が`) or the accusative (`を`)
becomes available.

> 私は[先生が猫{が/を}好きだ]と思います

In the example above, `猫` receives accusative case `を` not from its predicate
`好き` but from the verb `思う`. This is called **Exceptional Case Marking
construction**.

Similarly in English, the subject in a simple sentence needs to be in
nominative case:

> He is smart.

so having accusative case on the subject is ungrammatical:

> ×Him (is/to be) smart

However, when it is embedded under a verb that can assign accusative case and
there is no other noun phrase that needs accusative case, then the embedded
subject can receive the accusative case (remotely) from the verb in the main
clause:

> I consider [him (to be) smart].

Here, `him` is accusative case marked not by its predicate `smart` but by the
verb `consider`.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-06T18:16:05.057
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2012-01-06T19:58:24.343
2012-01-06T19:58:24.343
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answer