something to

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

azz - 31 Aug 2010 07:57 GMT

Can one say:

a. I did something so that they would lose the match.
b. I did something for them to lose the match.

Reply to this Message

Mark Brader - 31 Aug 2010 08:44 GMT

> a. I did something so that they would lose the match.

The sentence is fine.

> b. I did something for them to lose the match.

This one is wrong. It's grammatical but nobody would say it.

Signature

Mark Brader, Toronto | "What Europe needs is a fresh, unused mind."
msb@vex.net | -- Foreign Correspondent

Reply to this Message

Athel Cornish-Bowden - 31 Aug 2010 09:20 GMT

>> a. I did something so that they would lose the match.
>
> The sentence is fine.

>> b. I did something for them to lose the match.
>
> This one is wrong. It's grammatical but nobody would say it.

I think that is too strong. Some fairly similar sentences would so OK
to me, such as "I made arrangements for them to lose the match", and
I'm not sure if I'd be particularly surprised if I heard the exact
words proposed. So, I wouldn't say it, and you wouldn't say it, but I
can imagine that others might.

Signature

athel

Reply to this Message

Peter Moylan - 31 Aug 2010 13:12 GMT

>> a. I did something so that they would lose the match.
>
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>
> This one is wrong. It's grammatical but nobody would say it.

I did something that made them lose the match.

(This carries a suggestion that I don't know what I did.)

Signature

Peter Moylan, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. http://www.pmoylan.org
For an e-mail address, see my web page.

Reply to this Message

azz - 31 Aug 2010 20:44 GMT

Thank you all.

> I did something that made them lose the match.
>
> (This carries a suggestion that I don't know what I did.)
>
> --

I think one could also say: I did something so that they lost the
match.

Reply to this Message

Discussion Groups / English Usage / August 2010

something to