I like to have/I like having

Question

Hi,

How do you explain to an ESL student why we say:
I like having time to myself.
What is the difference between this sentence and I like to have time to myself?

And how do you explain why the sentence is:
They stop people selling ivory. as opposed to "they stop people to sell ivory."

Thank you.

Grammarfreak · Accepted Answer

AnonymousHow do you explain to an ESL student why we say: I like having time to myself.

This is my take.
I like chocolate milk. The underlined is a noun. In "I like having time to myself ", having ", which is a gerund, isn't wrong but I would consider it a little less common than "to have " which is a "to infinitive". I suppose it depends on what the context is. If John said: I like having my coffee and breakfast on my balcony overlooking the river. The entire underlined is a noun (gerund) phrase. The meaning to me is the same with "to infinitive", it is just a matter of preference.

AnonymousAnd how do you explain why the sentence is: They stop people selling ivory. as opposed to "they stop people to sell ivory."

When we try to stop something, that "something " is understood being in motion, or action. For instance: If a child has been whinning and crying for an hour, his father may say: Son, please stop whinning in my ear!
Or, His wife may say to him: You should stop smoking if you want to be at your son's graduation. "To infinitive " doesn't have that suggestive action, and semantically it doesn't work.

GPY · Answer

AnonymousHow do you explain to an ESL student why we say: I like having time to myself. What is the difference between this sentence and I like to have time to myself?

There is no significant difference in meaning.

AnonymousAnd how do you explain why the sentence is: They stop people selling ivory. as opposed to "they stop people to sell ivory."

This is a property of the verb "stop". Basically it just has to be learned. However, there is a hint from the fact that "stop" is a "negative" verb. Few, if any, "negative" verbs (e.g. "prevent", "disallow", "discourage", "ban", etc.) use the pattern "verb someone to verb". *

(In fact, "They stop people to sell ivory" is a valid sentence, but the grammatical structure and meaning are completely different. It means that they intercept or accost people who are, for example, walking down the street, in order to sell ivory to them.)

* If they take a preposition at all, such verbs tend to use "from", e.g. "discourage someone from doing something". However, "stop someone from doing something" doesn't sound quite right to me, though some people do seem to use this pattern.

GPY · Answer

GPY If they take a preposition at all, such verbs tend to use "from", e.g. "discourage someone from doing something". However, "stop someone from doing something" doesn't sound quite right to me, though some people do seem to use this pattern.

Sorry, I am slightly mixing up two different patterns here: "verb someone to verb" and "verb someone + preposition + verbing".

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousI like having time to myself. What is the difference between this sentence and I like to have time to myself?

There isn't any difference. I can't think of a case where you would have to use one and not the other. The verb "like", and many other verbs, can take either construction.

AnonymousThey stop people selling ivory.

To my ear this is not the standard phrasing for what I assume you're trying to say. I would say

They stop people from selling ivory. ~ They prevent people from selling ivory. ~ They do not allow people to sell ivory.

__________

They stop people selling ivory says to me They do not let people pass if those people are selling ivory, i.e., They stop those people who are selling ivory.

AnonymousThey stop people to sell ivory.

I understand this as They stop people so that they can sell ivory to those people / They make people stop for the purpose of selling ivory to those people.

CJ

Grammarfreak · Answer

CalifJimThey stop people selling ivory says to me They do not let people pass if those people are selling ivory, i.e., They stop those people who are selling ivory.AnonymousThey stop people to sell ivory.I understand this as They stop people so that they can sell ivory to those people / They make people stop for the purpose of selling ivory to those people.CJ

My intuition as well.

GPY · Answer

I differ on this one. For me, "They stop people selling ivory" is an ordinary and satisfactory way of saying "They do not allow people to sell ivory". For me, it is "They stop people from ..." that sounds wrong (although I am aware that it is used).

grammarfreak, whereabouts are you from? I found a thread about this at http://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/8286/the-usage-of-from-in-stop-somebody-from-doing-something , where someone suggests that "stop ... from" is more usual in the US, whereas leaving out "from" is more usual in the UK.

Grammarfreak · Answer

GPYgrammarfreak, whereabouts are you from? I found a thread about this at http://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/8286/the-usage-of-from-in-stop-somebody-from-doing-something , where someone suggests that "stop ... from" is more usual in the US, whereas leaving out "from" is more usual in the UK.

I am from the same geographical region as CJ; northern Calif.. For me precisely in the heart of the Silicon Valley. Probably that's the reason why I felt the same about the use of "from " in the "stop" context.

GPY · Answer

grammarfreakI am from the same geographical region as CJ; northern Calif.. For me precisely in the heart of the Silicon Valley. Probably that's the reason why I felt the same about the use of "from " in the "stop" context.

Right, the results in this thread would be consistent with the suggestion in the other forum then.

CalifJim · Answer

GPYleaving out "from" is more usual in the UK

Yes. It seems so. I've heard this, but only recently, probably on the thread you cited.

CJ

Perfect Stranger · Answer

Thanks for this topic. I'm subscribing to it.

I like to have/I like having

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