How to use earn?

[Maggie]

Hi,guys

His diligence and honesty soon earned him the trust of the owner, and he was promoted and in charge of the accounts and adminstering supplies.

In this sentence, I don't quite understand how to use the term,earn. I wonder how come use 'him' in this sentence. Would you mind telling me the structure of this sentence?

Thanks in advance.

Maggie^^
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[Pamela]

Hi Maggie,

Here earn=obtain for

In other words, he won the trust of the owner for his being diligent and honest.

One more example invented by me:

Her thorough knowledge of the subject earned her the position of administrator.

[Maggie]

Hi, Pamela

Thanks for your explanations. I have one more question.

Here the structure of English seems like reason + Verb + Subject + Object(I am not sure.)

reason: His diligence and honesty
Verb: earned
Subject: him
Object: the trust of the owner

I mean we usually put subject in front of one sentence,don't we? But in this sentence,it put the reason in front of the sentence. I simply think it's a little bit weird. I haven't seen this kind of English structure before. May I know how do you think?

Thanks a lot.

Maggie^^
_________________
In my view,the more mistakes someone else corrects me,the more I could learn.
And welcome to my blog: http://0rz.tw/793HL

[Pamela]

Hi Maggie,

I am not a swell in analysing the sentences, but

his diligence and honesty - the subject of the sentence

earned -- a verb

him-- an indirect object

the trust of the owner-- a direct object

The meaning of the sentence is that his diligence and honesty brought him the trust of the owner or, speaking more correctly, he won the trust of the owner for his diligence and honesty( the meaning retains the same).