English Experts

[Raissa]

Olá English Experts!
This is my first topic! So, here we go...
Bom, a minha dúvida é a seguinte:
Há alguns verbos na lingua inglesa que exigem o complemento to, sempre no fim da frase, como nestes exemplos:
They do something by themselves when they need TO.
Kathy was the only one who didn't say anything. She didn't have TO.

Eu sei que há mais alguns verbos que exigem esse complemento. Ex.: Want to, like to, love to, prefer to.
Há mais alguns verbos? Se há, quais são eles? Quando devo usá-los?

Muito obrigada pela atenção!!!

Bye

[donay mendonça]

Olá Raissa,

Mais alguns:

1)He did everything they asked him to.(Ele fez tudo que pediram a ele.)

2)...what she tells me to.(O que ela me diz.)...no caso para fazer.

3)...the party they had invited me to.(A festa para o qual me convidaram.)


Boa sorte!

[Henry Cunha]

Hi Raissa,
You raise a really interesting question. I've been searching for an answer as to whether there is a rule or not, or even a list of such verbs. I´m thinking that there isn´t. It seems to me that the immediate context always determines if you can get away with ending an utterance with "to" -- arguably an incomplete sentence -- and still make sense of the intended meaning.

So you can´t just go up to somebody and say "I don´t want to." Something had to precede it to round out the meaning.

Perhaps the way to look at this problem is to ask you for an actual example where you can´t be sure if you should have used "to," or omitted it.

In any case, the list seems to be pretty much limited to:

I / I´d have to. (also for other persons: he/she/we/they) (also in the negative)
I´d love to. (also for other persons: he/she/we/they)
I´d hate to. (ditto)
I / I´d want to. (ditto) (also in the negative: I don´t want to. I wouldn´t want to.)
I / I`d need to. (ditto) (ditto)
I´d like to. (ditto) (ditto)
I used to. (ditto) (ditto)
I wanted to. (ditto) (ditto)

I am indeed curious to know if you have an example.

Regards

[Raissa]

Hi Raissa,
You raise a really interesting question. I've been searching for an answer as to whether there is a rule or not, or even a list of such verbs. I´m thinking that there isn´t. It seems to me that the immediate context always determines if you can get away with ending an utterance with "to" -- arguably an incomplete sentence -- and still make sense of the intended meaning.

So you can´t just go up to somebody and say "I don´t want to." Something had to precede it to round out the meaning.

Perhaps the way to look at this problem is to ask you for an actual example where you can´t be sure if you should have used "to," or omitted it.

In any case, the list seems to be pretty much limited to:

I / I´d have to. (also for other persons: he/she/we/they) (also in the negative)
I´d love to. (also for other persons: he/she/we/they)
I´d hate to. (ditto)
I / I´d want to. (ditto) (also in the negative: I don´t want to. I wouldn´t want to.)
I / I`d need to. (ditto) (ditto)
I´d like to. (ditto) (ditto)
I used to. (ditto) (ditto)
I wanted to. (ditto) (ditto)

I am indeed curious to know if you have an example.

Regards

Bom, eu mandei uma mensagem pra uma pessoa, dizendo que se ela quisesse conversar em ingles comigo não teria problema e eu escrevi isso assim:
Well, I'd like to talk to you. I've never talked in English on line. So, if you want to, we could talk to each other tomorrow.
Só que eu não sei se esta construção está correta. Não sei se devo dizer desta maneira. Foi aí que me lembrei que certa vez a minha professora de ingles disse que tem verbos que pedem este complemento, só não entendi ainda quando devo usá-los. Estes exemplos que citei na minha pergunta, eu retirei do livro do meu curso. Bom, é isso aí. Eu não entendi tudo do seu texto, mas tudo bem tb . O meu inglês não é tão bom, mas to lutando pra chegar lá. Obrigada pela resposta!

[Henry Cunha]

Your usage is perfect. You had the context established, so it worked.
Regards

[andreia_brasil]

"listen to" tb é usado no final?

e como eh chamado isso? "complemento TO" mesmo? alguem tem algum link de referencia

[Henry Cunha]

"listen to" tb é usado no final?

e como eh chamado isso? "complemento TO" mesmo? alguem tem algum link de referencia

Well, "to" in these instances is really part of an infinitive. But because of the pre-established context, the actual verb need not be repeated.

"You don´t have to go," he said.
"I want to [go]," she answered.

I don´t think you can create a similar exchange utilizing "listen to." Would you like to try?

Otherwise, "to" is a preposition, as in:

He went to the park.

[andreia_brasil]

bom sei la, por exemplo

"That song is very cool, I will listen to"

nao? soh com o it ?

[donay mendonça]

Olá Pessoal,

Um palpite:

They´re the ones you should listen to.(Eles são os que você deveria ouvir.)


Boa sorte!

[Henry Cunha]

Olá Pessoal,

Um palpite:

They´re the ones you should listen to.(Eles são os que você deveria ouvir.)


Boa sorte!

Ok, seems as if we´re getting somewhere here. The obvious distinction is between

(1)"to" as part of an infinitive verb form, and
(2) "to" as a simple preposition.

The first is permissible so long as the reference to its related verb (which may appear elsewhere) is pretty obvious. The number of verbs you can do this with seems very limited.

The second is merely a matter of sentence construction, and, yes, there are all sorts of sentences you can build ending in prepositions. The number of verbs you can use is also unlimited.

Yeah, Andreia, your example uses "to" as a preposition, but in this case you do need an "it" to complete the thought.

In the case of "They´re the ones you should listen to," it´s also a preposition. It can be reworked to:
"They´re the ones to whom you should listen."