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H M Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

To lead or leading

Could you explain why we don't say "to lead to..." in the sentence below.

1) There was a road leading to the town on the other side of the river.

I think 1) sounds natural.

But, why we don't say 2) below?

2) There was a road to lead to the town on the other side of the river.

Since I think we say these sentences below.

3)The quesiton to be discussed is whether we should postone the plan till next month

4)We have problems to deal with.

Thank you in advance.
  

Top answer

" in the sentence below. In 3) you have the idea of "discuss the question", where 'question' is the object of the verb 'discuss'. In 4) you have the idea of "deal with problems", where 'problems' finishes the thought, almost like an object of 'deal with'.

— CalifJim

  • " in the sentence below.
  • In 3) you have the idea of "discuss the question", where 'question' is the object of the verb 'discuss'.
  • In 4) you have the idea of "deal with problems", where 'problems' finishes the thought, almost like an object of 'deal with'.
  • In 2) you would therefore have the idea of "lead a road" or "lead to a road", but that's not what the sentence is saying.
  • 'road' can't be seen as the object of 'lead'.
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2 Answers
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H MCould you explain why we don't say "to lead to..." in the sentence below.
In 3) you have the idea of "discuss the question", where 'question' is the object of the verb 'discuss'.
In 4) you have the idea of "deal with problems", where 'problems' finishes the thought, almost like an object of 'deal with'.

In 2) you would therefore have the idea o
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Thanks a lot for your very kind explanation!!

I really understood!
Now I think I don't get confused with this kind of use of Enlgish anymore. :-)

Thank you again!
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