Found people there

Question

Can one use:1) I found people there to meet me.instead of:2) I found people who were there to meet me.Can one use:3) I found people there to fight me.instead of:4) I found people who were there to fight me.Gratefully,Navi.

GPY · Accepted Answer

(1) sounds OK to me, but I wouldn't say it means exactly the same as (2). To me the meaning seems more like "I found that there were people there to meet me".

(3) sounds slightly odd to me, or unexpected at least. I think that only "expected" verbs such as "meet", "help", "protect" etc. work well in this pattern.

Navitasan · Answer

Thank you very much, GPY, for all your replies.

I think there are a limited number of verbs that could be used as the main verb of that sentence as well.

What to you think of:

a) He talked to people to help him.
b) He amused people to welcome him.

I think the main verb could be: 'find', 'see', 'notice' and maybe other verbs of perception.

The other question is whether the 'there' is necessary.

c) I found people to meet me.
d) I found people to help me.

I don't believe 'a' and 'b' work, but 'c; and 'd' seem fine to me.

Gratefully,
Navi.

GPY · Answer

navitasana) He talked to people to help him. b) He amused people to welcome him.

These don't sound right. In (a), the second "to" sounds as if it's supposed to mean "in order to" (which is obviously different from your original examples), but even with this interpretation the sentence does not work properly. I don't see any sensible interpretation for (b).

navitasanI think the main verb could be: 'find', 'see', 'notice' and maybe other verbs of perception.

The second verb being "meet" seems to limit the possiblities. If the second verb is something else, say "help", then several miscellanous verbs fit in what appears to be the same sort of sense as your original, i.e with the infintive phrase modifying "people". For example, "he had people (there) to help him", "he brought people (there) to help him" or "he recruited people to help him". Some of these might be felt to be straying towards "in order to" territory, but I think an argument against that is the final "him". Then of course there are the "asked/wanted people to help him" and so forth, but these seem different in nature.

navitasanc) I found people to meet me.d) I found people to help me.

(d) seems OK to me, but (c) does not sound quite right. "I found people there to meet me" has a sense to me of "happened upon", whereas "I found people to meet me" sounds as if you actually searched for those people, which is odd if they are supposed to be "meeting" you.

Navitasan · Answer

Thank you very much, GPY, for your long and detailed reply.
I appreciate it.

Respectfully,
Navi.

PS. Maybe we are dealing with two different things!

A) I found people (who were) there to meet me.

B) I found people to help me. (who would help me, who accepted to help me)

The meanings are different. As you say, 'find' does not have the same meaning in the two cases.

I think 'B' matches
C) I brought/recruited/hired.... people to help me.

'A' might be a different kind of animal....

Gratefully,
Navi.

GPY · Answer

navitasanA) I found people (who were) there to meet me.

In this one, "to" apparently means "in order to". When I initially looked at "I found people there to meet me", I didn't see "to" as meaning "in order to". I'm wondering now whether actually there are two ways of interpreting "I found people there to meet me". In the first, "to meet me" explains their purpose in being "there". That would be the same as "I found people who were there (in order) to meet me." In the second interpretation, "there" explains where you found them, "to" does not mean "in order to", and the sentence does not exactly mean "I found people who were there to meet me".

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