Start coughing vs. start to cough

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Pter

#488864 Fri, 14 Mar 08 12:53 PM

Doctor to patient with flu symptom:

1. When did you start coughing?

2. When did you start to cough?

Is only option 1 correct?

Thanks.

Pter

Joined on Wed, Nov 28 2007

Hong Kong

Full Member (428)

ganesh77

#488881 Fri, 14 Mar 08 02:00 PM

when did your cough (first) start?

how long have you had your cough for?

when did you first start coughing?

Otherwise option 1

ganesh77

Joined on Mon, Mar 10 2008

Vancouver, Bangkok

Junior Member (52)

The principle which now replies I don't know what was there a hundred years back, the same principle also says that it was unaffected when the whole universe was destroyed....

Grammar Geek

#488884 Fri, 14 Mar 08 02:03 PM

ganesh77

How long have you had your cough ~~for~~?

No need for the "for."

(Don't forget to start your sentences with capital letters.)

Grammar Geek

Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006

Pennsylvania, USA

Veteran Member (15,990)

Barbara, who answers in American English.

Capital letters

CalifJim

#489071 Sat, 15 Mar 08 02:13 AM

Pter
Doctor to patient with flu symptom:
1. When did you start coughing?
2. When did you start to cough?

Is only option 1 correct?

I have to say that option 1 is certainly the better of the two. Yet, option 2 is not grammatically wrong.

I think the doctor is interested in the whole period characterized by coughing. The doctor wants to know when that period of coughing started. Option 2 seems to be asking for the event that triggered the start of a cough. When did you start to cough? I started to cough when I swallowed too much pepper.

CalifJim

Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004

California

Veteran Member (17,566)

"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche

Marius Hancu

#489098 Sat, 15 Mar 08 03:19 AM

CalifJim said:

>>1. When did you start coughing?

>The doctor wants to know when that period of coughing started.

Very probably so. This is why I see another alternative, perhaps better:

When did your coughing start?

Marius Hancu

Joined on Wed, Apr 26 2006

Montreal, Canada

Veteran Member (11,673)

CalifJim

#489136 Sat, 15 Mar 08 07:07 AM

Naturally, people vary in their interpretations of what a poster is focused on.

I didn't think that he wanted to know, as a matter of style, the best question to ask if he were a doctor asking a patient about a cough. But maybe he did.

I thought he was focused on the difference between the semantic implications of a gerund and an infinitive after start, particularly in that sentence. But maybe he wasn't.

In any case, considering the variety of approaches we've taken in this thread, I'm sure that his concerns have been addressed, whatever they were! Smile

That's why it's always good when more than one answer shows up on these threads.

CalifJim

Difference between, Gerunds

Pter

#489178 Sat, 15 Mar 08 10:35 AM

Thank you very much to all of you. My concerns have been fully addressed indeed. Originally, I was focusing on the semantic difference between that of a gerund and an infinitive after start. However, all the helpful answers I got did enlighten me the variety of ways to express the same idea. Thanks a lot!

Pter

Difference between, Gerunds