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Fire1 Posted 6 years ago
Grammar

Infinitive phrase referring to the direct object of a main verb

A. I bought a robot cleaner to clean my house when I'm not at home.

1. Is sentence A correct English?
2. What is "to clean my house" referring to? I or a robot cleaner?

3. Can an infinitive phrase like "to clearn my house" be grammatically used for modifying the direct object of a main verb in a sentence when the infinitive phrase doesn't refer to the subject like in A?

One more example,

B. Will you introduce someone to help me now?

Here, the infinitive phrase "to help me now" refers/modifies someone, not refer to you,

  

Top answer

I'm not qualified to answer these questions. But I think that the first one is obvious. " Read the whole sentence and you will realize easily who was intended.

— Anonymous

  • I'm not qualified to answer these questions.
  • But I think that the first one is obvious.
  • " Read the whole sentence and you will realize easily who was intended.
  • If you were not at home, who would clean your house?
  • The robot.
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2 Answers
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I'm not qualified to answer these questions. But I think that the first one is obvious.

"I bought a robot cleaner to clean my house when I'm not at home."

Read the whole sentence and you will realize easily who was intended. If you were not at home, who would clean your house?

The robot.

Originally, why did yo

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[1] I bought a robot cleaner [ ____ to clean my house when I'm not at home].

The bracketed element is an infinitival relative clause modifying "robot cleaner". The relativised element, represented by gap '____', is subject of the relative clause and understood as "robot cleaner".


[2] Will you introduce someone [ ____ to help me now]?

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