• Some issues from some books

    From alexander koryagin@2:5075/128.130 to All on Tuesday, March 28, 2023 12:49:14
    Hi, All!

    -------------------
    ...
    He meant for us to dig. I'll have Joe fetch a shovel as soon as we
    (come to him)."
    ...
    "Well, that was easy," said Kate, putting the letter away inside her
    bucket. "Now all we have to do is get there!"
    -------------------

    If I were they :) I'd write "I'll have Joe _to_ fetch a shovel" and "Now
    all we have to do is _to_ get there!"

    Why do those Infinitives are without "to"?

    Bye, All!
    Alexander Koryagin
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  • From alexander koryagin@2:5075/128.130 to Ardith Hinton on Friday, March 31, 2023 14:44:52
    Hi, Ardith Hinton!
    I read your message from 30.03.2023 21:52

    ak>> Why do those Infinitives are without "to"?
    AH> In formal English, the preposition is generally
    AH> included where it may not always be in colloquial speech. What
    AH> I see here is a private conversation (i.e. you may notice turns of
    AH> phrase Miss Stickler didn't accept). That's the easy explanation for
    AH> the last sentence... the other is more complex. Although it struck me
    AH> as "not English" with the added preposition, I wasn't really sure why
    AH> until after wading through multiple definitions of the verb "to
    have".
    AH> It seems that if "have" means a third party will be asked &/or
    AH> required to do the job the preposition is omitted, as in the first
    AH> sentence you asked about. :-)

    Ok.
    BTW, you called those "to"s as "propositions". But prepositions are put
    before nouns? For instance, in English textbook in Russia we call those
    "to"s as particles.

    Bye, Ardith!
    Alexander Koryagin
    fido.english_tutor 2023
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