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Qingqing Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

The use of hope

0 Can we say"I hope a park to be built in the city center"? I found the sentence in a book. 02br
00I know we can't say"hope sb. to do sth." 0-
  

Top answer

0 That sentence is not grammatical in the variety of English I speak. 02br 00It is understandable, but not a structure anybody uses in my neighborhood! 02br 02br 00CJ 0-

— CalifJim

  • 0 That sentence is not grammatical in the variety of English I speak.
  • 02br 00It is understandable, but not a structure anybody uses in my neighborhood!
  • 02br 02br 00CJ 0-
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19 Answers
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0 That sentence is not grammatical in the variety of English I speak. 02br
00It is understandable, but not a structure anybody uses in my neighborhood! 02br
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00CJ 0-
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0 You could say 'I hope FOR a park to be built in the city center'. 02br
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00Clive 0-
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0 [1] SV+to do 02br
00[2] SVO+to do 02br
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00'Wish', 'want', 'expect', and 'desire' can take constructs both [1] & [2]. 02br
00'Hope' can take construct [1] but not [2]. 02br
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00I'm wondering why only 'hope' cannot take construct [2]. 02br
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00paco 0-
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0 [1] SVO+to do 02br
00[2] SVO+to do 02br
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00[rub my eyes, thinking to myself] They look the same. What am I missing? {looks again, rubs eyes} Huh !!!??? [shakes head, gives it one last try] They've gotta be the same. 0-
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0To me they look different. 05002br
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00paco 010id1
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0Cute, Paco, but I copied and pasted. I didn't retype them.050010id1
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0 By the way, JTT, couldn't you tell me why 'hope' is not allowed to take the construct "SVO+do" ? 02br
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00paco 0-
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0 I haven't given it much thought, Paco but at present, I can state, in a completely unqualified manner, that I don't have the faintest ----ing idea. 02br
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00['----ing' denotes strong emphasis; it does not express any anger. It is not a structure that I'd recommend for formal situations and the likelihood that you'll come across it on a TOEFL or TOEIC is less than zero.]
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0 That's an interesting one. 02br
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00What makes one verb that denotes a mental action 'transitive' (e.g. 'want') and another, 'intransitive' (e.g. 'hope')? 02br
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001. I want this to happen. 02br
002. ?I hope this to happen. 02br
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00Is it related to the nature of the mental action itself, or the history of the wor
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0 'Hope' seems essentially an obligatorily intransitive verb, despite the fact that some writers tried used it as a transitive verb (EX: I have no time to ask Mr Sillar's permission, but hope his pardon for assuming it [Ruskin, 1872)]. This intransitivity would be the main reason why 'hope' is licensed to take a construct like "I hope for him to get a high score in TOEFL" but not one like "I hop
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