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Anonymous Posted 7 years ago
Grammar

Should "He bought some flowers to give to his wife" be amended to "He bought some flowers to give them to his wife"?

I have found this on British Council's website:-


"We use the to-infinitive: to express purpose (to answer "Why...?"): He bought some flowers to give to his wife."
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/english-grammar/infinitive


"to give to his wife" functions as an adverb giving a reason for "He bought some flowers"; It does not function as an adjective modifying its preceding noun "some flowers", or in other words, it does not function as a relative clause for "some flowers" (see this example by Raymond Murphy in English Grammar in Use "Would you like something to eat? (= something that you can eat)".


The issue is: since the adverb to-infinitive phrase "to give to his wife" does not relate to its preceding noun "some flowers", hence the verb "give" should have its own express object, and if so, the adverb to-infinitive phrase should be amended to "to give them to his wife", and the sentence should be amended to "He bought some flowers to give them to his wife.".


Is this correct?


Thank you in advance.


Maverick

  

Top answer

". In fact, the original sentence is natural English. The word "them" is not required and indeed makes the sentence read somewhat awkwardly.

— GPY

  • ".
  • In fact, the original sentence is natural English.
  • The word "them" is not required and indeed makes the sentence read somewhat awkwardly.
  • It's an interesting point that you raise though.
  • The two examples they give in that section are: 1.
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1 Answers
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anonymousthe sentence should be amended to "He bought some flowers to give them to his wife.".

In fact, the original sentence is natural English. The word "them" is not required and indeed makes the sentence read somewhat awkwardly. It's an interesting point that you raise though. The two examples they give in that section are:

1. He bought some fl

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