Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[learner12]

Hello, teachers!!

(1) Tom finally talked Jane into lending me the book.
(2) Tom finally talked Jane of lending me the book.

I know that (1) is an English sentence, but how about (2)? May I use "of" instead of "into"? Does (2) make sense?

Thank you in advance.

[redset]

No, 2 doesn't work. Talk into is a verb phrase which means convincing someone to do something, talk of means talk about (which would give sentence 2 a completely different meaning: Tom finally had a conversation about Jane lending you the book).

For sentence 2 you'd actually either say:
Tom finally talked of Jane lending me the book, or
Tom finally talked to (whoever) of Jane lending me the book.

You could actually say 'Tom talked to Jane about lending me the book', meaning that Tom discussed the idea with Jane - I suppose you could also say 'Tom talked to Jane of lending me the book' in the same sense, but that sounds very old-fashioned and awkward. It's best to use talk of for general discussions, stories and imaginings, rather than concrete plans or attempts to convince people to do things.

[learner12]

Dear redset:

Thank you so much for a lot of information.

Take care and have a nice day!!