I'll make you a present of a doll. - English example sentence

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{{vm.sentence.expandLabel}} Fewer translations

lilygilder February 16, 2010 February 16, 2010 at 11:07:34 PM UTC

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Can anyone explain the grammatical structure of "a present of a X", please? Why not just say "X as a present"?

Wolf February 16, 2010 February 16, 2010 at 11:13:41 PM UTC

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Das entspricht etwa "jemandem ein X zum Geschenk machen"

blay_paul February 17, 2010 February 17, 2010 at 5:26:33 PM UTC

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@Lilygilder
It's not uncommon, although a little old fashioned / formal.

One common usage is offering to give something for free that would normally be charged for - especially on a certain condition.

In this particular case I would say the English is a little unnatural (old fashioned). Possibly the these sentences come from a Japanese text book - they often contained old fashioned or odd English.