To show to him / to show him

Question

Hi teachers,I read these two sentences.1.  Sam pulled out newspaper articles out of a suitcase to show to Mike.&gt;&gt;  Is "to" necessary?  2.  He was flipping through a book, and seems to have seen something, so he closes it.  Then he turns to go show his partner.&gt;&gt;  Could you please tell me if "to" is needed after "go" or after "show"?Thank you.Tinanam

Avangi · Accepted Answer

"To" is optional in both cases.

Sometimes we even use "and," but I'd call it lower register. "You'd better go and show that to the boss."
When the direct object of the infinitive follows rather than precedes, the indirect object doesn't use "to."
The structure works as with a finlte verb: I gave to Mike the money.
He went to show to his partner the article.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

tinanam0102Sam pulled ~~out~~ newspaper articles out of a suitcase to show to Mike.

Mike is an indirect object. The preposition to is often omitted. It is OK to leave it out here, but I would say it with the preposition.

tinanam0102 He was flipping through a book, and seemed to have seen something, so he closed it. Then he turned to go show his partner.

Then he turned to go show his partner. OK.

Then he turned to show (it) (to) his partner. OK

If you add "to" for the indirect object, it is better (but not mandatory) to add the pronoun as a direct object. The meaning does change a tad, since we don't know what "it" is - the book, a page in the book, or something else unrelated to the book. Adding "it" implies an antecedent. If you leave it out, there is no such implication.

Then he turned to go to show (it) to his partner. - Structurally it is OK, but it's very awkward to read. Inserting the direct object pronoun helps a little bit.

Avangi · Answer

tinanam01022. He was flipping through a book, and seems to have seen something, so he closes it. Then he turns to go show his partner.

My understanding is that this sort of tense shifting is quite acceptable in narratives, both casual and historical present.

He was walking slowly up the stairs. Suddenly the door flies open.

Tinanam0102 · Answer

Hi AlpheccaStars, hi Avangi,

Thank you so much for your help.

I have two questions:

1. Sam seemed to have seen something. (as opposed to Sam seemed to see something)

The writer tells of Sam flipping through a book, does that mean Sam had seen something similiar before, prior to the very moment of flipping this book. So he closed the book, and show it to his partner.

2. Would it be natural if the sentence was:

Sam was flipping through a book, and seemed to see something in it, so he closed it. Then he turned to go show his partner / Then he turned to go show it to his partner.

Thank you so much.

Tinanam

Avangi · Answer

2. He was flipping through a book, and seems to have seen something, so he closes it. Then he turns to go show his partner.

does that mean Sam had seen something similiar before, prior to the very moment of flipping this book.

Not to me.
You begin with the past continuous, so you're describing a process. While the book is still open, you switch to the present, to describe what you see as his reaction to something in the recent past, while flipping the book. This is because of the perfect infinitive. If you use the regular infinitive, then his "seeming" and his "seeing" would be simultaneous. That is, he seemed to be seeing something.
Since the infinitive is non-finite, the relationship will be the same whether you use the present or the past.
He seems to see something / He seems to have seen something
He seemed to see something/ He seemed to have seen something

The author is observing Sam's reaction as he flips the book. "He looks like he sees something."

OR "He looks like he has seen something."

** "He looked like he was seeing something."
OR "He looked like he had seen something."

** I used past progressive because "He looked like he saw something" could be two years ago.

Avangi · Answer

tinanam01022. Would it be natural if the sentence was:
Sam was flipping through a book, and seemed to see something in it, so he closed it. Then he turned to go show his partner / Then he turned to go show it to his partner.

I see no problem with it.
(I'd probably use the long version.)

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Hi Tinanam;

The sequence of tenses is quite flexible, and gives the reader the sense of the flow of time and sequence of events.

Past progressive - a continuous action that started in the past.

Sam was flipping through the book....

Now you have an interruption of this activitity.

a) and he seemed to have seen something ... (it was interrupted in the past, but his attention might have been diverted to something outside his window. He might have seen something in the book, but there is no evidence of this.) The subsequent tenses can be either past or present. If you switch to present, then time=0 comes after the seeing something.

b) and he seems to have seen something... (This past activity was interrupted at the moment that the present time starts. So the observer's present time reference (time zero), is at the time of interruption. The subsequent tenses in the sequence of actions must be present, because you have exited past tense.

Either sequence is OK. It depends if you want to tell a story that happened all in the past; or a story that starts in the past and continues into the (observer's) present.

The switch from past to present is rare. This change is a very deliberate and careful choice of a good writer; it would alert the reader that this is a significant turning point in the story.

Regards,
A-

s

Tinanam0102 · Answer

Hi Avangi, hi AlpheccaStars,

Thank you so much for such detailed explanations, which are very helpful.

Have a good day.

Tinanam

To show to him / to show him

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