[Grammar] to infititive question

[chrisyjpark]

Hello~

Please help me understand the following sentence:

"Everyone pitches in to do their share to help one another."

There are two to-infinitive phrases. Please verify these with noun, adjecrive or adverb?

 

[Tdol]

I am not sure what you mean by asking for verification, but the sentence if fine. If you want to break them up a bit, you could use in order to with either of the verbs.

 

[emsr2d2]

Please verify these with noun, adjective or adverb?

I don't understand this question. What are you asking for?

 

[chrisyjpark]

Everyone pitches in in other to do their share in other to help one another.
Is this ok?

 

[bhaisahab]

No, it's not. It's not at all clear what you want to say.

 

[Raymott]

Everyone pitches in in order to do their share in order to help one another.
Is this ok?

No, it's terrible (in my opinion). One "in order to" might be acceptable. There's nothing wrong with your original.
ems was asking you what you mean by "Please verify these with noun, adjective or adverb?" It's unnecessary to parse your sentence, or to use adjectives and adverbs in order to verify that you may use two consecutive to-infinitive phrases.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Everyone pitches in in order to do their share in order to help one another.
Is this ok?

The sentence is wrong. Everyone is singular and their is plural. Try:

- People all pitch in to do their share to help one another.
- We all pitch in to do our share to help one another.

Meanwhile, there's nothing wrong with cascading infinitives. We go to work to earn the money to buy the food to get the strength to go to work to. . . .

 

[GoesStation]

I think many editors would accept everyone pitches in to do their share. It's an example of the very useful singular their,​ as used by Jane Austen, William Shakespeare, and many other luminaries.

 

[jutfrank]

Although the thought is clear, the sentence doesn't have a lot of sense. As Charlie Bernstein says, cascading infinitives are fine, but for me they don't work here.

First, it sounds superfluous to say, People pitch in (in order) to do their share. Isn't that what pitching in means?

Second, it sounds superfluous to say People do their share (in order) to help one another. Isn't that what doing one's share means?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I think many editors would accept everyone pitches in to do their share. It's an example of the very useful singular their,​ as used by Jane Austen, William Shakespeare, and many other luminaries.

Good point, thanks. My local newspaper certainly does! But it's managed by idiots.

Anyhow, point taken. Scratch "editors" and add "sticklers"!

In creative writing, anything goes. In formal writing, it's good to be careful. I've looked in several grammar books, and I can't find a defense of the singular "their" anywhere. (Online references, maybe, but not print.)

It's not a moral issue. "You" can be singular and plural, so why not "their"? But as of today, as far as I can tell, grammatical it ain't!

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Try Huddleston and Pullum (2002.494), ​The Cambridge Grammarof the English Language.

Thanks! I'll see if I can find it.

It might be a difference between British and American English. I've looked in the current Chicago Manual of Style, the most comprehensive American reference, and it doesn't support it.