Please explain the structure below

Question

They elected him president of the U.S.

They elected him to be presiden of the U.S.

They elected him to be the president of the U.S.

1) Please explain the difference between the first two sentences. Why can it omit "to be"? please explain with some examples.

2) Is the third one right?

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,
They elected him president of the U.S. The omission of 'the' suggests this is a title. Consequently, I'd capitalize the word 'President'.

They elected him to be president of the U.S.Same comment as above.

They elected him to be the president of the U.S.

1) Please explain the difference between the first two sentences. The 'to be' suggests that he did not become President immediately after the election. eg Bush is still President. Obama is waiting to become President. (In the US, they call him the 'President-elect'.)
Because we know this, we usually just don't bother to say 'to be'.

You also hear 'He was elected as President', 'he was elected as mayor', etc.

Why can it omit "to be"? please explain with some examples.

2) Is the third one right? Yes.

Best wishes, Clive

Sarah88 · Answer

Dear Clive,

Thank you for clarifying the above. You are a good ESL teacher, and I really want to improve my English. Your replies have always helped me a lot. Therefore, I wrote the following, and I think there must be lots of mistakes there. Could you kindly take a look at it and let me know each correction with explanation? then I can carefully study them afterwards. Many thanks.

Here the story goes...

I was so surprised that Mr. White asked me for an interview yesterday. Well, I did hear that his assistant is (was? - she is still working with him right now. ) going to leave him for another position soon, but never thought he would came to me since I have a boss, and I’m doing well with my current job. Then (or just omit "Then") on my second thought, maybe my department no longer needs me to be here, so my boss has put ( put? / had put? )me on the move list. Therefore, HR gave (would give) Mr. White my resume for his consideration. To be honest, I was very upset at that moment, because I thought HR should have come to me first before passing (to pass) my resume around. I know the economy is in a bad shape, every company is worried about their profit next year and doing some changes with their staff, but still this is an unprofessional act from HR. However, I had no choice, so I went to the interview anyway.

In the small meeting room, Mr. White asked me about my plan for my career, since I was still a little angry and surprised of this whole thing, I told him everything which was on my mind at the moment. I told him that I was hoping to take a HRM course next year on weekends, and would really like to work in HR department in the near future. I also said to him that I would definitely do things differently if I were Helen who has given him my resume in the morning. He smiled and said to me “I’m also surprised that you knew nothing about this interview. I thought they have contacted you already.” “No” I said “No one has contacted me before you. And this is weird. The current environment is not very good, everyone is sort of worried, and I can’t believe they made their employee even more panic.” He said “I understand how you feel, and I will talk to Cathy about this later.” By the way, Cathy is our HR director. Then we chatted (had chatted) about whether I could (can) help him next year, and he also gave me some introduction on his department.

Later, my current boss, Mr. Zink came back from his meeting. Like other times, he casually said with a joking tone “hey, I’m back…did you miss me? Have you been busy while I was away?” “Of course I’ve been busy” I said “I even had an interview with Mr. White.” He looked at my puzzled and asked me “Why?” I replied “well, I was surprised as well. HR gave him my resume as one of the candidates and I thought you knew about this.” “No, I know nothing about this.” “ Really? I thought you don’t want me to be here any more, so you put me on the move list.” I confronted him with my assumptions. He could tell that I was upset about this, so he called the HR girl in front of me. After the phone call, he said to me “See, I knew nothing about this. I would not do that to you, besides what I am going to do if you are not going to help me next year.” “ Okay, now I believe you, but I still think this is a very unprofessional for HR to do so.” I said. “ I totally aggress with you. I will talk to Cathy about this after she comes back.” He said.

This is a little drama which (that) happened last Friday. Please help me to correct my English Grammar. The words in the brackets are the ones I’m not too sure which to use after all. Please help me to let me know why I can or cannot use it.

Many Many thanks and Happy New Year !

Sarah

CalifJim · Answer

Verbs which take this kind of structure include call, name, baptize, pronounce, appoint, and elect.

The people elected John leader.
The parents named her Sylvia.
Some people call this effect scintillation.

There are three ways that an object complement can be introduced.
1. With no intervening word (as shown above)
2. With as in between. (elected John as leader)
3. With to be in between. (declared Mary to be the winner)

There are something in the neighborhood of 100 verbs that can take these structures, but they can't always take all three forms. Which of the three are permitted and which are not permitted for each verb are properties of the individual verb and have to be learned separately as part of the grammar of the verb.

CJ

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Thank you for clarifying the above. You are a good ESL teacher, and I really want to improve my English. Your replies have always helped me a lot. Therefore, I wrote the following, and I think there must be lots of mistakes there. Could you kindly take a look at it and let me know each correction with explanation? then I can carefully study them afterwards. Many thanks.

Here the story goes...

I was so surprised that Mr. White asked me for an interview yesterday. Well, I did hear that his assistant is (was? - she is still working with him right now. )

'was' and 'is' are both possible. I'd favour 'is', since she's still there.

going to leave him for another position soon, but never thought he would come to me since I have a boss, and I’m doing well with my current job. Then (or just omit "Then") Your choice. It just emphasises 'Here's the next thing'.

on my second thought, The standard phrase is 'On second thoughts'

maybe my department no longer needs me to be here, so my boss has put ( put? / had put? ) Say 'has put'. Your focus is on the present

me on the move list. Therefore, maybe HR gave (would give) Use 'would have given'. Again, it stresses the present aspect, and also it's conditional (if he put me on the list)

Mr. White my resume for his consideration. To be honest, I was very upset at that moment, because I thought HR should have come to me first before passing (~~to pass)~~ you can't use the infinitive here
my resume around. I know the economy is in a bad shape, every company is worried about their profit next year and doing some changes with their staff, but still this is an unprofessional act from HR. However, I had no choice, so I went to the interview anyway.

In the small meeting room, Mr. White asked me about my plan for my career, since I was still a little angry and surprised at/by of this whole thing, I told him everything which was on my mind at that moment. I told him that I was hoping to take an HRM course next year on weekends, and would really like to work in the HR department in the near future. I also said to him that I would definitely do things differently if I were Helen, who had given him my resume in the morning. He smiled and said to me “I’m also surprised that you knew nothing about this interview. I thought theyhad contacted you already.” “No” I said “No one has contacted me before you. And this is weird. The current environment is not very good, everyone is sort of worried, and I can’t believe they made their employees even more panicky.” He said “I understand how you feel, and I will talk to Cathy about this later.” By the way, Cathy is our HR director. Then we chatted ~~(had chatted~~) no, no, no. PP is not needed here
about whether I could (~~can~~) help him next year, and he also gave me some introductionon to his department.

Later, my current boss, Mr. Zink, came back from his meeting. Like other times, he casually said with a joking tone “Hey, I’m back…did you miss me? Have you been busy while I was away?” “Of course I’ve been busy” I said “I even had an interview with Mr. White.” He looked at my puzzled and asked me “Why?” I replied “Well, I was surprised as well. HR gave him my resume as one of the candidates and I thought you knew about this.” “No, I know nothing about this.” “ Really? I thought you don’t want me to be here any more, so you put me on the move list.” I confronted him with my assumptions. He could tell that I was upset about this, so he called the HR girl in front of me. After the phone call, he said to me “See, I knew nothing about this. I would not do that to you. Besides, what I am going to do if you are not going to help me next year?” “ Okay, now I believe you, but I still think this is a very unprofessional for HR to do so.” I said. “ I totallyagree with you. I will talk to Cathy about this after she comes back,” he said.

This is a little drama which (that) either happened last Friday. Please help me to correct my English Grammar. The words in the brackets are the ones I’m not too sure which to use after all. Please help me to let me know why I can or cannot use it.

Best wishes, Clive

Sarah88 · Answer

Thank you, Clive.

I still have the following questions, could you kindly help me to clarify them?

...going to leave him for another position soon, but never thought he would come (would have come ? ) to me since I have a boss, and I'm doing well with my current job.

on my second thought, The standard phrase is 'On second thoughts' (Why there is no "the" before "second" and it uses "thoughts", not "thought"?)

I told him that I was hoping to take an HRM ( always use "an" before an abbreviation?) course next year on weekends, and would really like to work in the HR department ("the" ? because it means our HR department, not any HR department. RIGHT?) in the near future.

Clive, after reading the above, could you let me know how you feel about my English skills and which sessions I should study more?

Best,
Sarah

Clive · Answer

Hi,
...going to leave him for another position soon, but never thought he would come (would have come ? ) to me since I have a boss, and I'm doing well with my current job.
'Would' is better. It relates it more to the present time.

on my second thought, The standard phrase is 'On second thoughts' (Why there is no "the" before "second" and it uses "thoughts", not "thought"?)

Think of it as a standard, fixed phrase. You often hear the singular form 'On second thought'.

I told him that I was hoping to take an HRM ( always use "an" before an abbreviation?)
No. You are talking about 'a . . . course'
course next year on weekends, and would really like to work in the HR department ("the" ? because it means our HR department, not any HR department. RIGHT?)
Right
in the near future.

Clive, after reading the above, could you let me know how you feel about my English skills and which sessions I should study more?
You just need to read a lot of English,and to continue to practice your writing.

Best wishes, Clive

Please explain the structure below

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions