dragn
Joined: 17 Feb 2009
Posts: 450
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 Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 6:42 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
Mice ran out of the fields _______places to hide.
A. looking for B. to look for
Is it OK for either of the answers to fill in the blank? |
Grammatically, I would say both are acceptable. However, considering the context of the sentence, I would choose (A) without a moment's hesitation. I think the reason the infinitive of purpose (B) sounds a little funny here is because it presumes that the mice have some cognitive ability to plan their actions; to act with purpose. It makes it sound like the mice are sitting around in the field thinking to themselves, "What to do, what to do?" when suddenly one of the brighter among them squeaks up, "Hey guys, I know! What we need are places to hide! Let's go look for some!" And off they go with a plan in mind.
On the other hand, (A) makes it sound like they just ran blindly and instinctively to get away from something that was threatening their safety, which I'm sure is exactly what happened.
Hope this makes sense.
Greg |
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