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Anonymous Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
bare infinitives
Hello, I am a non-native speaker of English and just came across the sentence below when I was reading the patent contract of a school.
I understand that my son/daughter may not own or drive a vehicle whilst a student at ABC College unless he/she obtains written permission from their natural parents requesting permission to own/drive a car; writes to the Principal outlining intentions/reasons for wanting to own/drive a car; permission has been granted by the Principal; have had lessons from registered driving school; be 16 1/2 years old or over; hold a current driving license and undertake a Defensive Driving Course which the school will help arrange, if requested.
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I understand the meaning, but I just don't understand why bare infinitve ("have", "be", "hold", "undertake") are being used after third semi-colon, while the verb "writes" after the first semi-colon agrees in number with the subject "he/she", which is seemingly omitted.
Could someone tell me what's going on in this sentence?
Thanks
I understand that my son/daughter may not own or drive a vehicle whilst a student at ABC College unless he/she obtains written permission from their natural parents requesting permission to own/drive a car; writes to the Principal outlining intentions/reasons for wanting to own/drive a car; permission has been granted by the Principal; have had lessons from registered driving school; be 16 1/2 years old or over; hold a current driving license and undertake a Defensive Driving Course which the school will help arrange, if requested.
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I understand the meaning, but I just don't understand why bare infinitve ("have", "be", "hold", "undertake") are being used after third semi-colon, while the verb "writes" after the first semi-colon agrees in number with the subject "he/she", which is seemingly omitted.
Could someone tell me what's going on in this sentence?
Thanks
Top answer
The writer made a mistake. The verbs should be in the 3rd singular present.
- The writer made a mistake.
- The verbs should be in the 3rd singular present.
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8 Answers
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The writer made a mistake. The verbs should be in the 3rd singular present.
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AnonymousCould someone tell me what's going on in this sentence?That's easy. It's called "mistakes".
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There is another mistake - I've underlined it.
I understand that my son/daughter may not own or drive a vehicle whilst a student at ABC College unless he/she obtains written permission from their natural parents requesting permission to own/drive a car; writes to the Principal outlining intentions/reasons for wanting to own
I understand that my son/daughter may not own or drive a vehicle whilst a student at ABC College unless he/she obtains written permission from their natural parents requesting permission to own/drive a car; writes to the Principal outlining intentions/reasons for wanting to own
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Thank you very much everyone.
I thought it's some usage of bare infinitives that I don't know.
I thought it's some usage of bare infinitives that I don't know.
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fivejedjonThere are another mistakeThere are another one? Hmm. I didn't see them.
CJ
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Congratulations, CJ. You win the signed photograph of me for being the first to spot my deliberate mistake today. It's in the post. Now that you have spotted it, I've corrected it so that others don't think yhey might have a chance to win the valuable prize.
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fivejedjonso that others don't think yhey might have a chance to win the valuable prize.I think you need to capitalize proper nouns, right?
Anyway, why would anyone think that Yhey might have a chance to win? He won't even notice the post because he's busy sailing down the Yhames with his friend Yhomas.
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