Re: Use of conditional verb prior to an infinitive clause / object complement

Marius Hancu — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 22:47:34 GMT

Your sentence is more polite and as a result much more frequent:

607 on "I would like for you to go"

http://books.google.com/books?q=%22I+would+like+for+you+to+go%22&btnG=Search+Books

233 on "I'd like for you to go"

http://books.google.com/books?q=%22I%27d+like+for+you+to+go%22&btnG=Search+Books

3 on "I like for you to go"

Forget about your other considerations, they're not quite valid.

Use of conditional verb prior to an infinitive clause / object complement

Anonymous — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 22:17:48 GMT

Hi all,

Thanks in advance for your help in answering this question. I'm trying to explain to a non-native English speaker that a certain usage is either incorrect or awkward, but I find myself unable to do so. At this point, I'm just confusing myself in trying to explain it.

So her construction is:

"I like for you to go to my friend's house in three weeks."

My correction would be:

"I would like for you to go to my friend's house in three weeks."

My reasoning is that including the word "would" allows for a better logical continuity of tenses. I have tried to explain this via continuity of verb tense and the nature of the conditional word "would"-- but I am not a grammarian and my explanations are either imprecise or wholly inaccurate. On that note,

1) Is my correction correct?

2) Is there a rule which either supports or refutes this correction?

Kind regards,
A.S.

ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: Use of conditional verb prior to an infinitive clause / object complement

Use of conditional verb prior to an infinitive clause / object complement