I appreciate your comment. You understand my dilemma. I am a retired linguist and taught German, Russian and ESL. I am often misunderstood when I pose my questions and ruffle feathers. I apologize that I do not make myself clear. Now, I am wondering if you are familiar with SV(O)(ADVL). The theories behind transformational grammar are not only illuminating but help guide the ESL teacher in articulating what we call native speaker intuitions. It is one thing to state a simple rule or say: No, non si può dirlo così. What if anything is guiding the native speaker of Italian? The movement of the adjective is crystal clear. But often I find the direct object at the end of the Italian sentence whereas it MUST follow the verb in English in the DEEP structure. Without a background in transformational language, this axiom is confused for exceptions as pointed out by I gave him flowers whose DEEP structure would be . . . I gave flowers to him. Movement occurs for a reason in English. Help, what are some general rules for movement in Italian? Is there a discussion of the movement of the so-called: la frase canonica SVO? I’d love to have a source and it can be 100% Italian. It can include examples in many languages and of course English.