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hiromichi
Joined: 12 Oct 2005
Posts: 1380
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 Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 2:27 am Post subject: English of a joke |
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In a joke below , is a phrase"for her" needed in front of "to make my breakfast" ?
“Doctor, can you come round and see my wife as soon as possible? She is so ill that I had to carry her downstairs to make my breakfast.”
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dragn
Joined: 17 Feb 2009
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| Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 8:03 am Post subject: |
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In a joke below , is a phrase"for her" needed in front of "to make my breakfast" ?
�Doctor, can you come round and see my wife as soon as possible? She is so ill that I had to carry her downstairs to make my breakfast.� |
No, it isn't necessary. You could add a number of other phrases, but none are needed. The meaning is clearly understood as is. For example:
She is so ill that I had to carry her downstairs for her to make my breakfast.
She is so ill that I had to carry her downstairs in order for her to make my breakfast.
She is so ill that I had to carry her downstairs so that she could make my breakfast.
She is so ill that I had to carry her downstairs for the purpose of having her make my breakfast.
...and so on; but none really make the meaning any clearer. They just add to the word count.
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hiromichi
Joined: 12 Oct 2005
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| Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2009 8:25 am Post subject: |
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dragn、Thank you.
If so, a subject ( or an actor) of to-verb phrase could be a subject or an object of the sentence. This case is the latter and the case of the former is below.
I carried my wife there to show that I am married.
In other words it depends on the context.
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