about

0 Mostly required. 02br
02br
00 Google hits:02br
02br
00 939 for "something to talk to you"02br
00 538 for "something to talk to you about"02br
02br
00 which says that of the 930 hits, 538 had01b00 about02b00. 0-

1i00I have something to talk to you 01font00about00.02br
02br
02font02i01font00Is this 'about' required or optional?02font02br
02br
00----------------------02br
02br
01font00If we decompose your base sentence, we ge

0Nice and correct anaylis, Pioussoul.02br
02br
01i00I have 01font00something02font00 to talk to you 01font00about00.02font02i02br
02br
01i01font00something02font00 is the complement of the prep 01font

0Nice and correct anaylis, Pioussoul.02br
02br
01i00I have 01font00something02font00 to talk to you 01font00about00.02font02i02br
02br
01i01font00something02font00 is the01b00 complement02b

0prepositions have complements or objects following them -- call it what you want.02br
02br
00To defer a prep means to remove from where it belongs to: before its complement. 02br
02br
01i00I have 01font00something02font00 to talk to you 01font00about00. -- deferred prep

0 01blockquote

01cite10Inchoateknowledge12cite10prepositions have complements or objects following them -- call it what you want.12br
12br
10To defer a prep means to remove from where it belongs to: before its complement. 12br
12blockquote

11i00I have 01font00something

0Hi guys,02br
02br
01font01i00I have something to talk to you 02i01b00about02b02font01font01i00.02br
02br
02i00Is this 'about' required or optional?02font02br
02br
00Let me try to give a simple answer, to avoid

1font00Thanks, Clive, for the concise clarification, but I still have some clouds over my head. 02font02br
02br
01font00That is, why, in Marius' google hits, do the samples with no 01b01i00about 02i02b00outnumber those with 01b01i00about02i02b

0All of the ones that DO have about will be included in the set of hits that didn't inlcude it in the search.02br
02br
00For example, if you search for Mickey Mouse, you'll get... I don't know - ten million hits. If you search just for Mickey, you'll get all ten million of Mickey Mouse, plus all the other Mickeys. So you get 11 million for Mickey and 10 million for Mickey Mou

0 Thanks, GG, I got your points, but there are still tons of samples 01i01b00with no about,02b02i00 right? 0-