An infinitive phrase to a clause

Question

Hi.I love the evergreen flower because it doesn’t let the autumn take the bread out of the flower girl’s mouth.I should change the sentence so that it would have two dependent clauses. There must be no change in the meaning of the sentence at all. -------------John told me to tell you to bring his book along to school.And the above sentence should be changed in a way that the infinitive phrases become dependent clauses, again without any change in meaning.I've come up with the following sentence:I love the evergreen flower because it doesn’t let that the autumn take the bread out of the flower girl’s mouth!John told me that I tell you that you bring his book along to school.Are they grammatical?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Persian LearnerAre they grammatical?

No.

Persian LearnerI love the evergreen flower because it doesn’t let the autumn take the bread out of the flower girl’s mouth.

This is one truly bizarre sentence.

My guess is that they want you to change let (something) take to allow (something) to take. That's if they're thinking of the infinitive clause 'to take' as another dependent clause.

Otherwise, I have no idea what they're thinking.

Persian LearnerJohn told me to tell you to bring his book along to school.

I think they want some "should"s in there:

John told me that I should tell you that you should bring his book along to school.

To paraphrase an infinitive in a finite clause, you almost always need a modal verb.

CJ

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Persian LearnerI love the evergreen flower because it doesn’t let that the autumn take the bread out of the flower girl’s mouth!

This sentence is grammatical but it is not logical. It is replete with puzzles.

Persian LearnerI love the evergreen flower

The first puzzle is that flowers are not evergreen. Flowers last for a short period of time, allowing fertilization to make seeds for the next generation. Plants can be evergreen. They keep their leaves through the winter, and never go into a dormant phase.

Persian Learnerit doesn’t let the autumn take the bread

It refers to the flower.

The next puzzle is that flowers do not give permissions. They can be associated with fertility, love, and other concepts, but not preventing or allowing something to happen.

The next puzzle is about autumn.

Like summer, winter and spring, it has no hands or means of holding bread. There is also no logical connection between bread and autumn. Bread can be made at any time of the year. Wheat can be harvested in winter, or summer.

Persian Learnerbread out of the flower girl’s mouth!

A flower girl is usually a young girl (3-7 years old) who performs in a wedding ceremony. I have never heard of a flower girl holding bread in her mouth so that it can be snatched away.

So the sentence is filled with puzzles. Altogether, it makes no sense at all.

An infinitive phrase to a clause

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