English Language Learners

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Anonymous

21:28

@Arrowfar There's a page after the table of contents which defines the abbreviations in CGEL

Anonymous

It says "deictic time (p.125)"

Anonymous

So, see p.125-7

fahdijbeli

in english why we make "to" in the end of sentence ?

Anonymous

You'll need to be more specific.

Anonymous

Do you have an example sentence?

fahdijbeli

21:31

oh no but I remeber I saw many sentences have a to in the end :(

ok no problem freind if I found one I will show you it :)

@snailboat thanks :)

Anonymous

@fahdijbeli There are a number of reasons why a sentence might end with to.

fahdijbeli

yes

Anonymous

> You can do it if you want to do it.

Anonymous

> You can do it if you want to ~~do it~~.

fahdijbeli

yes like this

Anonymous

21:34

The infinitive marker to allows ellipsis of what follows, as long as the listener can figure out what is left out from context.

Anonymous

In this case, you can leave it out because the listener can guess "do it" is missing

Anonymous

When you form a wh-question ("What color is that egg?") with a word like who, where, why, what, etc., you usually move the wh-phrase to the beginning of the sentence.

Anonymous

There are exceptions. For example, if the wh-word is the subject, or is part of the subject, then it's already at the beginning and doesn't need to be moved.

Anonymous

When this happens, the preposition to might get "stranded" at the end of the sentence.

Anonymous

> Who are you giving that egg to ___ ?

Anonymous

21:37

> To whom are you giving that egg __ ___ ?

Anonymous

These are two common situations in which you'll find to at the end of a sentence.

fahdijbeli

@snailboat oh I m understanding whatyou said

@snailboat for this : Who are you giving that egg to ___ ?

you mean i will give an egg to someone ?

Anonymous

Yes, who is the complement of to

Anonymous

You are giving an egg to someone. I would like to know who.

Anonymous

Who was moved to the beginning of the sentence, leaving behind a gap

Anonymous

21:45

That's why I wrote the ___ there

Anonymous

(You wouldn't normally write ___, of course. It's just to illustrate that something is missing there because it was moved to the beginning of the sentence.)

fahdijbeli

@snailboat ah thanks a lot friend now I understood :) thanks and thanks

what a chat-room here

Anonymous

:-)

fahdijbeli

I m very lucky

@snailboat because I losed many job

because I m poor in english :(

user116848

22:12

Hi guys

user116848

@snailboat Hey there :)

fahdijbeli

@Arrowfar hi

user116848

@snailboat "He said he wrote/had written it himself" Both perfectly grammatical?

Anonymous

22:30

@Arrowfar Yes.

user116848

@snailboat Can I use both of them for same meaning?

fahdijbeli

@snailboat from the famous singers like maickel jackson , justin temberlake etc ... i should listen who from them ?

Anonymous

@Arrowfar They aren't both appropriate in the same range of situations

Anonymous

@fahdijbeli I have no idea :-)

Anonymous

What sort of music do you like?

Anonymous

22:43

I could recommend some artists I like, but it's no guarantee that you'll like them. You should listen to music you enjoy. That way, you'll feel more motivated to practice :-)

fahdijbeli

yes

Anonymous

►

fahdijbeli

it s good music

thanks

Anonymous

►

Anonymous

►

Anonymous

22:46

These are all popular music

fahdijbeli

@snailboat the first one is better than latter both :)

thanks :)

Anonymous

Hah

Anonymous

Dido's album No Angel is all pretty good.

fahdijbeli

yes

Anonymous

Anyway, listen to whatever music you like.

fahdijbeli

22:52

yes

user116848

@snailboat But here in CGEL 2002 pg 158 it gives us a choice?

fahdijbeli

lol I like 50 cent, eminem ,sean paul etc.. but they make me sadly learn english :(

Anonymous

@Arrowfar Backshift is often optional.

fahdijbeli

they haven't a good english

you see ?

Anonymous

Yes, I see. I wouldn't call their English "bad", I would call it "non-standard"

Anonymous

22:54

You want to learn standard English.

fahdijbeli

yes

exactly

user116848

Who me??

Anonymous

I was responding to fahdijbeli just now.

user116848

So in my example it is optional too? To mean the same thing that is?

user116848

Backshifting

Anonymous

22:56

That's not answerable without context.

user116848

"Backshifting"

user116848

See here it says I have a choice

user116848

archive.org/stream/TheCambridgeGrammarOfTheEnglishLanguage/… here

fahdijbeli

23:23

good nitgh

thanks @snailboat I will be here :)

F.E.

23:55

@snailboat Looking for the "opposite" construction(s) to the Delayed Right Constituent Coordination (DRCC) . . . if I'm reading CGEL page 1345 correctly, then they're seeing the "whom" in "his son's boss whom he had earlier telephoned __ or written a letter to __ " as being analogous to the final element in "He had either telephoned __ or written a letter to __ his son's boss" in where the final element is a post-nucleus NP.

user116848

Hi FE

user116848

@F.E. You got my message I sent you on main site in two Q's comments are?