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Johnson13 Posted 13 years ago
Grammar
Why + bare infinitive
In the OALD, a sentence:
Why fork out for a taxi when there's a perfectly good bus service?
I know that for 'why not', we use the bare infinitive, but how about the type above? Does it mean a present event only? Can it mean a past event? If the above sentence means a present event only, can I refer to a past event by changing it to:
Why forkED out...?
Thank you.
Why fork out for a taxi when there's a perfectly good bus service?
I know that for 'why not', we use the bare infinitive, but how about the type above? Does it mean a present event only? Can it mean a past event? If the above sentence means a present event only, can I refer to a past event by changing it to:
Why forkED out...?
Thank you.
Top answer
Johnson13 Can it refer to a past event? It can, but your suggestion does not work. This does: Why did you fork out for a taxi when there was a perfectly good bus service?
- Johnson13 Can it refer to a past event?
- It can, but your suggestion does not work.
- This does: Why did you fork out for a taxi when there was a perfectly good bus service?
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3 Answers
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Johnson13Can it refer to a past event?It can, but your suggestion does not work. This does:
Why did you fork out for a taxi when there was a perfectly good bus service?
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Thanks.
We use why not + bare inf to give suggestions; but now, say, yesterday a friend of mine went to shop A, and I want to know why he didn't go to shop B, then can I use this pattern and say:
Why not go to shop B?
We use why not + bare inf to give suggestions; but now, say, yesterday a friend of mine went to shop A, and I want to know why he didn't go to shop B, then can I use this pattern and say:
Why not go to shop B?
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