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Coachpotato Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

WARN

My English teacher has told us that the verb WARN is followed by:

object + not + to+ infinitive: He warned us not to open the door.

object + against+ -ing: he warned us against opening the door.

My questions is: can you have warn followed by a positive infinitive? for example, is it correct to say: 'our teacher warned us to study' (meaning that our teacher told us if we didn't study we would get into trouble)?
  

Top answer

Well, "to warn" has the aura of "make sure that you don't"; if you are warned, you're expected not to do something... " I don't feel that "warn to do something" sounds right... "

— Wistiti2

  • Well, "to warn" has the aura of "make sure that you don't"; if you are warned, you're expected not to do something...
  • " I don't feel that "warn to do something" sounds right...
  • "
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4 Answers
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Well, "to warn" has the aura of "make sure that you don't"; if you are warned, you're expected not to do something... Maybe you can have something along these lines: "Our teacher warned us./: We have to work hard, other wise we etc etc..."

I don't feel that "warn to do something" sounds right... You'd rather say "our teacher told us to ...", or "advised us to..."
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Wistiti2I don't feel that "warn to do something" sounds right... You'd rather say "our teacher told us to ...", or "advised us to..."
I agree that it does sound a tad strange, but I know that I've heard it, and perhaps even used it. So it isn't extremely hard on my ears.
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I think Philip is right. OED gives a quote like below

You may be tempted to tear up my letter, and throw it from you unread.
I warn you not to do so. I warn you to read what I have written
 [W. Collins : Basil III, 1852]

paco
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Hi,

Of course, you can also warn someone of/about something.

Clive
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