I start our discussion by asking:
Do you answer the question or the question?
We are faced with a case related to verbal regency which, similarly to so many other linguistic facts, is constituted by peculiar features. These peculiarities concern the context in which a given communicative situation takes place, given that the same verb may or may not be preceded by the preposition.
In this sense, returning to the previous question, it is stated that the verb in question is classified as transitive indirect even when its complement does not refer to the person, as in the example we are doing reference. Thus, it can appear without the article, as is what happens in answering “questions”, as it can also appear with its presence, in other words: answering questions.
Still talking about the verb in question, it is worth mentioning that, according to some conceptions attributed to certain users of the language, it is classified as bitransitive, becoming similar to so many others, that is, representing a direct object of a thing and an indirect object of a person. However, it must be said that he can be classified as such,
as long as it consists of the two objects simultaneously. So, let's see the following examples:The student answered the question to the teacher. (direct object of thing - the question, and indirect object of person - to the teacher)
In case there is only one complement, it will always be classified as an indirect transitive, a fact that is perfectly proven in “you answer the question”.
In addition to these assumptions, another aspect that we can attribute to it, is characterized by the fact that it is conceived as dicendi, that is, that verb that announces a statement, both in direct and indirect speech:
The students replied that they had already responded to the literary activity.
By Vânia Duarte
Graduated in Letters
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/gramatica/regencia-verbo-responder.htm
