took me - shopping/go shopping/to go shopping

Question

HiI'd like to know one is correct or which one seems more natural (and why if there is a reason) 1) My friend Tommy took me shopping in Paris last week.2) My friend Tommy took me to go shopping in Paris last week.3) My friend Tommy took me to go shop in Paris last week.thanks a million

Khoff · Accepted Answer

To me, #1 sounds the most natural.  #2 is possible, but I think it would be more likely if you started off with the intention of shopping but something happened that changed your plans: My friend Tommy took me to go shopping in Paris last week, but the car broke down, so we never got there.  # 3 sounds awkward to me -- "go shopping" is much  more common than "go shop," and then we're back to #2.

Teo · Answer

My friend Tommy took me going shopping in Paris last week.

Is the above sentence possible?

Joey_five · Answer

KhoffTo me, #1 sounds the most natural. #2 is possible, but I think it would be more likely if you started off with the intention of shopping but something happened that changed your plans: My friend Tommy took me to go shopping in Paris last week, but the car broke down, so we never got there. # 3 sounds awkward to me -- "go shopping" is much more common than "go shop," and then we're back to #2.

sorry typing mistake number 3) should be: My friend Tommy took me to go to shop in Paris last week.

Does this sound more awkward??

Paco2004 · Answer

TeoMy friend Tommy took me going shopping in Paris last week.
Is the above sentence possible?

Hello

I guess Teo though what I have thought and he wanted to ask the same I am asking by this.

I know Khoff is right in that #1 is the most idiomatic expression in contemporary English. But what I am puzzled at is how to parse the phrase "take someone shopping". I know sentences like "He took me home in his car", "Dad took me out to the ball game" or "He took me out for dinner" are correct English sentences. And I know "go shopping" is an idiomatic phrase that was originally "go on shopping", a phrase similar to "go on a picnic".

But how can one explain "She took me shopping" grammatically? Is it a degenerated form of "She took me (out) on/for shopping"? or is it a construct like "She has me shopping"? As far as I know, any grammar book or any dictionary doesn’t give an explanation to the usage of "take someone doing". And indeed, if you put "She took me shopping" in an online sentence parser like [url=http://bobo.link.cs.cmu.edu/cgi-bin/link/construct-page-4.cgi#submit] this one[/url], the parser will show that "shopping" is an constituent alien to other elementes of the sentence.

paco

Khoff · Answer

First, the easy ones -- "Tommy took me going shopping" sounds wrong, and "Tommy took me to go to shop" sounds awkward.

Now the tough one - how to explain "He took me shopping" grammatically for Paco. You know I'm no grammarian, but I'll see if I can come up with anything useful. In my mind "she took me shopping" is NOT like "she has me shopping" or "she wants me (to be) shopping" or "she saw me (while I was) shopping." For what it's worth, I don't think "he took me shopping" is the answer to "what did he take you doing?" (I agree, "take someone doing" is really strange) but rather the answer to "where did he take you?"

Where did he take you last night? He took me to a movie. He took me out to dinner. He took me ice skating. (So - there's another "take someone v-ing" for you -- I guess it's not as strange as I first thought.) He took me shopping. I think it's just a shortened form of "he took me to go shopping."

Does that help any, Paco? By the way -- you said I know "go shopping" is an idiomatic phrase that was originally "go on shopping", a phrase similar to "go on a picnic". This sounds curious to me. I've certainly never heard anyone say "go on shopping" (except with the meaning of "continue shopping" - not like "go on a picnic.") What about "go skiing," "go jogging," etc.?

Paco2004 · Answer

KhoffBy the way -- you said I know "go shopping" is an idiomatic phrase that was originally "go on shopping", a phrase similar to "go on a picnic". This sounds curious to me. I've certainly never heard anyone say "go on shopping" (except with the meaning of "continue shopping" - not like "go on a picnic.") What about "go skiing," "go jogging," etc.?

Hello Khoff

Thank you for the reply. I believe you certainly have never heard "go on(a) shopping". It is a phrase supposed by linguists to be spoken by English people of Chaucer's time. OED mentions the usage in the explanation of the development of -ing forms.

The identity of form of present participle and gerund probably also assisted the process whereby, at a later date, such a construction as "the king went a-hunting", formerly "on or a hunting", was shortened to "the king went hunting", the last word being then taken as the participle; and thus to the shortening of "the ark was a building", orig. "on building", to "the ark was building",-- in which, if "building" is taken as a participle., it must be explained as a present participle + a past participle(= being built).

Note : "a" was old times' weak version of "on". abed=a bed (on bed), ashore=a shore (on shore), aboard= a boar (on board), etc.

paco

Khoff · Answer

Thanks, Paco, that makes sense.  I can sort of imaging "going a-shopping" like "going a-hunting."  But back to the structure of "take someone shopping" - I was thinking more about this, and the only thing I can add is that the verbs that work with "take someone x-ing" are the same ones that work with "go x-ing," but why we can use some verbs this way and not others I don't know.  Why is "go shopping" okay but not "go buying," "go sledding in the park" but not "go playing in the park," "go dancing" but not "go eating in a nice restaurant"?  I guess this is just another one of the mysteries of English - I know which ones I can say but I have no rule to explain the choice to a non-native speaker.<img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/6.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/6.gif' alt='Emotion: sad'/>

Paco2004 · Answer

Hello Khoff

I understand you use "go x-ing" commonly when "x-ing" is a joyful activity. But it is interesting that "go playing in the park" and "go eating in a nice restaurant" are not idiomatic. Grammatically speaking, I feel you are using this "x-ing" as a gerund (noun). It is because you often say like "I went shoe shopping yesterday" or "We went birthday shopping for our mom". This sort of usage agrees to the fact that the phrase was originally "go on x-ing". The "x-ing" in "take someone x-ing" would be also a noun, because you can say like "I took my husband bra shopping". The original grammatical form of this structure would be "I took my husband to bra shopping", but somehow your ancestors dropped "to" in the course of history. I analyze the phrase in this way.

paco

Joey_five · Answer

thank you all. The explanations help. (the parser link is particular nice. I never knew <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/3.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/3.gif' alt='Emotion: surprise'/> there was such a device on the internet)

took me - shopping/go shopping/to go shopping

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