 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
| HomeDiscussion GroupsEnglish UsageBritish EnglishESL Teaching Learnglish.com Contact UsLink To UsSearch & Site Map |
Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2007Any difference between "Thank you to do something" and "Thank you for doing something"
I'm still not sure what is the difference between the phrases "Thank you to do something" and "Thank you for doing something". I would appreciate if anyone can provide an explanation. I'm a PhD student and neither I nor my supervisor is a native English speaker. Recently, I've received a drafted plan and I thanked her with the first phrase "Thank you to put it in a written form." The next morning I've received another e-mail containing a really detailed plan which was supposed to be my task. I was surprized, but I remembered that when my supervisor wants me to do something for her she simply writes "Thank you in advance to inform me..." or something like that "Thank you to post those samples until Friday". She was using the "to" to refer to the future. Is "to" used to refer to the events in the future? And "for + -ing" is used to refer to the already completed events? Or the perceived difference is just a hallucination of both of us :-)? Thanks. Erkan > I'm still not sure what is the difference between the phrases "Thank > you to do something" and "Thank you for doing something". I would [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > used to refer to the already completed events? Or the perceived > difference is just a hallucination of both of us :-)? "Thank you to do. . ." isn't English at all! If the thing has been done, you can say "Thank you for doing. . ." If it hasn't been done yet, and you want to say something more than just "Please do. . .", you can say "I'd be grateful if you would do. . ." We do have an expression "I'll thank you to [do]. . ." but it's a rude way of saying "Don't [do]. . ." Your supervisor probably has something like that in her mind (though of course without the intentional rudeness!) when she uses "Thank you to [do]. . ." instead of "Please [do]. . ."  SignatureMike. -- Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com Mike Lyle: > We do have an expression "I'll thank you to [do]. . ." but it's a rude > way of saying "Don't [do]. . ." ... I agree that it's rude, or at least brusque, but I say the meaning is the opposite. "I'll thank you to mind your own business from now on" would be a typical use. SignatureMark Brader, Toronto | "You often seem quite gracious, in your way." msb@vex.net | --Steve Summit > MikeLyle: > > > We do have an expression "I'll thank you to [do]. . ." but it's a rude > > way of saying "Don't [do]. . ." > ...I agree that it's rude, or at least brusque, but I say the meaning is > the opposite. "I'll thank you to mind your own business from now on" > would be a typical use. Yes: sad that we haven't discovered a nice new usage anomaly, but it's just my composition error, I'm afraid. -- Mike. > I'm still not sure what is the difference between the phrases "Thank > you to do something" and "Thank you for doing something". I would [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > used to refer to the already completed events? Or the perceived > difference is just a hallucination of both of us :-)? As far as I know, "Thank you to <do something>" is not idiomatic in any English dialect. There is a not very common phrase, "I'll thank you to <do somthing>", which, as you say, refers to thanking for something to be done in the future -- it can be an overly polite way of asking for that something to be done, but its use could also be taken as somewhat patronizing. As I say, it is not a common expression. A "Please <do something>" works much better. You are in Turkey, right? SignatureSkitt (in Hayward, California) http://www.geocities.com/opus731/ Thanks for the clarifications, Mike and Skitt. Yes, I'm in Istanbul now and my supervisor is from Switzerland...so this weird English follows :-) Erkan > aksoy.er...@gmail.com wrote: > > I'm still not sure what is the difference between the phrases "Thank [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > -- > Skitt (in Hayward, California)http://www.geocities.com/opus731/ >I'm still not sure what is the difference between the phrases "Thank >you to do something" and "Thank you for doing something". I would >appreciate if anyone can provide an explanation. The first is futrue, and the second past, but the first is not idiomatic. "I would thank you to shut the window" means "Please shut the window", but it's not a very good way of saying it. "Thank you for shutting the window" is what you say after the firstr request has been carried out. SignatureSteve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2012 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.