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According to Longman's English grammar's book:

We can use two objects after verbs like give and buy. Instead of: Give the book to me, we can say: Give me the book. lnstead of: Buy the book for me, we can say: Buy me the book. 2 Some verbs combine with TO: bring, give, lend, pay, post, sell, send, show, tell, write: Bring that book to me. -, Bring me that book. 3 Other verbs combine with FOR: buy, choose, cook, cut, do, fetch, find, get, make, order: Please order a meal for me. -, Please order me a meal. 4 We can put it and them after the verb: Give it to me. Buy them for me. Do it for me. With e.g. give and buy, we can say: Give me it. Buy me them. (But not 'Do me it') We say: Give it to John. Buy them for John. (Not *Give John it4*Buy John them') "

Neither the preposition can be dropped nor the construction's placement can be altered if the indirect object is a noun and the direct object is a pronoun:

  • I bought John them - Wrong

  • I bought them for John - Correct

Did I get it right??

A.Cool
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    Is this different from your other question, http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/371920? I'm having a hard time figuring out why these are separate posts – herisson Feb 05 '17 at 04:20
  • Yes, but in "I bought them for John", "John is not indirect object. It is object of the preposition "for" not the verb "bought". – BillJ Feb 05 '17 at 09:23
  • @Bill - Yes. However, is that right, so? - I gave Paul them - Wrong. I gave them to Paul - Correct? – A.Cool Feb 05 '17 at 13:39
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    "I gave them to Paul" is normal, though some dialects may accept "I gave Paul them". – BillJ Feb 05 '17 at 14:44
  • @BillJ - How would you define this rule?

    When the direct object is a pronoun and the indirect object is a noun we can't use? Or otherwise?

     – A.Cool Feb 05 '17 at 15:59
  • Also related: http://english.stackexchange.com/q/372021/2085 and http://english.stackexchange.com/search?tab=votes&q=user%3a15299%20dative%20alternation – tchrist Feb 05 '17 at 19:33

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