"Bequeathed to us" or "bequeathed us"

[SayCoolNowSayWhip]

I'm 90% sure it should be "bequeathed us" but my English Language tutor has amended it to "bequeathed to us".

The context is - "The legacy bequeathed us by the Greeks...." etc.

Am I right or wrong? Thanks pedants!

Unfortunately, I think you are wrong and your tutor is right! The quotes in the OED are all "bequeathed to...", the only place I can find "bequeathed us" is in a poem by Gregory Orr - so not entirely wrong, just poetic.

It is comparable to:

The ball thrown me by Alison.... vs
The ball thrown to me by Alison...

Of course you could invert the sentence thus:
"The greeks bequeathed us the legacy..."

Thanks for the replies.... Still confused. Asked my dad who is the Pedant of all Pedants regards English language, and he said it could be either.....

It depends on whether the verb is being used in a passive or active sense I think.
So The table was bequeathed to us by Uncle Ted
Uncle Ted bequeathed us the table.

Any help?

It can be either, depending on word order in the entire clause, in exactly the same way as for example "to give":

He gave me the ball. / He gave the ball to me.

I prefer the active voice whenever possible (as it is usually clearer and simpler), so would reword it as inmysparetime recommends.

Missed out part of my example:

"The ball was given to me by him" / "The ball was given by him to me"

The preposition is always needed in the passive voice in standard English, but can be omitted in the active voice depending on word order.

I think I'm right! Just found this - "a verb such as bequeath follows the pattern of give, happily appearing in both types of extended transitive constructions.

a. He bequeathed his priceless book collection to the university.
b. He bequeathed the university his priceless book collection."

Phew! That has been annoying me for days.

I can't shake the feeling that unto should be in there somewhere...