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jasonlulu_2000 · Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Posts: 879

i came across such a problem as follows:

If the book you want is out, you may ask it to be kept for you.

The sentence above is regarded as incorrect. The correct expression is supposedly that "you may ask for it to be kept for you."

I have not a slight clue about the answer. Why should we say "ask for it to be kept" instead of "ask it to be kept? i think we usually say "ask sb to do something". Accordingly, we can say "ask something to be done" Am i right? Please help me out.

Peace

Jasonlulu

redset · Joined: 18 Mar 2006 Posts: 582 Location: England

In 'you may ask it to be kept for you' the it refers to the book you want. When you follow ask with a noun, that noun is the person or thing you're asking - so what you're really saying in that sentence is 'you may ask the book to be kept for you,' which doesn't make sense because you can't ask books to do things, and it's the librarian who keeps books for people.

When you say 'ask for it to be kept for you' the for is a preposition used to indicate the object or the aim of the action - and the action in this case is asking. Having the book kept for you is what you're asking for.

Basically, ask is usually followed by a preposition like for, sometimes with the object placed between them ('you may ask the librarian for...'), and finally the actual request being made. So ask (person) for (what you want). Your last example should be 'ask for something to be done'.

Lorikeet · Joined: 08 Oct 2005 Posts: 1877 Location: San Francisco

I deleted the other thread that was exactly the same.

redset · Joined: 18 Mar 2006 Posts: 582 Location: England

You should have kept your answer Lorikeet - the more explanations there are the better the understanding, I think.

jasonlulu_2000 · Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Posts: 879

Thank you for your timely reply. In your explanation, you say that we cannot make the book do something, so it is the librarian who keeps the book.
But actually we can find many similar cases.
For example, he doesn't want the job to be done like that. Or, he orders the job to be finished in time. Similarly, why shouldn't we say ask something to be done?
Since it is somebody who gives the action, shall we correct the above sentence as follows?
He doesn't want someone else to do the job like that.
He orders someone to finish the job in time.

Peace

Jasonlulu