Hi, teachers, I have a question:)

[zzang418lee]

[FONT=&#48148]Not only (A)[/FONT][FONT=&#48148]do families have less[/FONT][FONT=&#48148] money to spend, but fear of (B)[/FONT][FONT=&#48148]further increases[/FONT][FONT=&#48148] in oil prices (C)[/FONT][FONT=&#48148]cause[/FONT][FONT=&#48148] consumers to save (D)[/FONT][FONT=&#48148]instead of spend[/FONT][FONT=&#48148].[/FONT]
[FONT=&#48148][/FONT]
[FONT=&#48148]The answer is C(should be changed to causes), but I was wondering if it is possible to use the plain verb form after 'instead of' as above. Thank you in advance[/FONT]

 

[birdeen's call]

I'm not sure if I understand your question correctly. Yes, "cause" should be "causes". Other than that, the sentence is fine.

 

[TheParser]

[FONT=&#48148]Not only (A)[/FONT][FONT=&#48148]do families have less[/FONT][FONT=&#48148] money to spend, but fear of (B)[/FONT][FONT=&#48148]further increases[/FONT][FONT=&#48148] in oil prices (C)[/FONT][FONT=&#48148]cause[/FONT][FONT=&#48148] consumers to save (D)[/FONT][FONT=&#48148]instead of spend[/FONT][FONT=&#48148].[/FONT]

[FONT=&#48148]The answer is C(should be changed to causes), but I was wondering if it is possible to use the plain verb form after 'instead of' as above. Thank you in advance[/FONT]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Zzang,


(1) Congratulations. You are a very good student.

(2) I checked about 10 books and the Web, and it seems that

you are 100% correct:

After the preposition "instead of," modern English prefers

the gerund.



(3) Here is what Dr. John B. Opdycke writes in Harper's English

Grammar (New York: Warner Books, 1965), p.153:

The phrasal preposition instead of is preferably followed

by a gerund .... Instead of telling the truth he deliberately

lied. Instead of tell the truth he deliberately lied is wrong.

(4) When you read English, however, do not be surprised if you

see the bare infinitive or even the to-infinitive after "instead of."

Some good writers break the rules for many reasons.

(5) The Bottom line: Learners should use the gerund after

"instead of."


***** NOT A TEACHER *****

 

[birdeen's call]

Hello, Parser,

In my opinion, "spending" wouldn't be right here. I think there is an ellipsis involved here, and there are two possible readings of it.

1) Not only do families have less money to spend, but fear of further increases in oil prices causes consumers to save instead of (causing them to) spend.

2) Not only do families have less money to spend, but fear of further increases in oil prices causes consumers to save instead of (to) spend.

This doesn't exactly explain why I feel "spending" is incorrect there, I know. I tried to put it into words but failed.

PS: This might be the reason. I think I feel that the second reading is still an elided form of the first. I would say that the gerund form required by grammarians is the elided "causing".

 

[engee30]

I reckon there is a grammar in which you could look up instead of and find something like this:
Sometimes, you have to choose between the infinitive and the gerund when it comes to using the complex preposition instead of:

Not only do families have less money to spend, but fear of further increases in oil prices causes consumers to save instead of (to) spend. [instead of (to) spend referring back to a part of the clause]

Not only do families have less money to spend, but fear of further increases in oil prices causes consumers to save instead of causing consumers to spend. [instead of causing referring back to the whole clause]

 

[engee30]

Hello, Parser,

In my opinion, "spending" wouldn't be right here. I think there is an ellipsis involved here, and there are two possible readings of it.

1) Not only do families have less money to spend, but fear of further increases in oil prices causes consumers to save instead of (causing them to) spend.

2) Not only do families have less money to spend, but fear of further increases in oil prices causes consumers to save instead of (to) spend.

This doesn't exactly explain why I feel "spending" is incorrect there, I know. I tried to put it into words but failed.

That's precisely what I think, too. :up:

 

[TheParser]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Birdeen's Call and Engee,


(1) Thank you for your very insightful views.

(2) I was able to communicate with a super qualified teacher. I submitted this

sentence: "The bad economy is causing many people to save their money instead of

spend their money." She told me that she does not see any ellipsis in that sentence, and

that the "correct" answer is SPENDING.

(3) NEVERTHELESS, I congratulate both of you on your willingness to "think outside of the

box." In other words, "instead of" is not an ordinary preposition. Our dear friend, Dr.

Quirk, agrees with you that "instead of" is a "marginal preposition" (page 661 in the

1985 edition of A COMPREHENSIVE GRAMMAR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE).

He gives this sentence:

It must be so frightful to have to put things on to look better, instead of

to strip things off.

The professor agrees that "many" would prefer "instead of stripping," but he excuses the

writer by saying that perhaps she was seeking parallelism. That is, "to strip" would

parallel "to put."

So maybe we can say that you were seeking to parallel "spend" with "save"???



(4) Perhaps, however, we should encourage learners to follow the "rules" until they

understand English a bit more. In other words, learners should use the gerund.

(5) Oh, I just remembered. I read somewhere (I forget where) that if you want to use

the bare infinitive, then you could possibly write:

The bad economy is causing many people to save RATHER THAN spend.

(6) Thanks again for your great thoughts. HOPEFULLY, a teacher will contribute

to this thread.


***** NOT A TEACHER *****

 

[engee30]

That's the word - parallelism - I was actually trying to refer to.

And the rather than construction you point us out to in your post is bang on with the idea. :up:

 

[corum]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Most (All?) of us already know that, TheParser, partly because it is clearly stated in your profile. :up: BTW, does being a teacher automatically classify someone as competent in grammar? :up:
I think you would spare a lot of energy if you skipped the "NOT A TEACHER" part in the future. Now back to business.

The bad economy is causing many people to save their money instead of spend their money. :tick:

The bad economy is causing many people to save their money instead of to spend their money. :tick:

The bad economy is causing many people to save their money instead of spending their money. :tick:

Although instead of + infinitive has been attested in good written English, many would here prefer: '. . . instead of spending . . .' (which, however, would spoil the parallelism with 'to save' that may have motivated the use of 'to spend' here.

Quirk et, al., 1985

She told me that she does not see any ellipsis in that sentence,

:up:

the "correct" answer is SPENDING.

And '(to) spend' too.

 

[TheParser]

That's the word - parallelism - I was actually trying to refer to.

And the rather than construction you point us out to in your post is bang on with the idea. :up:

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Engee,

STOP THE PRESSES!!! (I am a newspaper fan!!!)

I have just received a communication from another super

qualified teacher (I think that she actually grades the

test papers of international students). She says that

besides the gerund, she finds that the infinitive is fine.

In fact, she prefers the to-infinitive. Like you and Birdeen's

Call, she puts an emphasis on what the economy is CAUSING

them to do and what it is not CAUSING them to do.

Wow!!! Thanks to you and Birdeen's Call, I learned so much

about that so-called preposition. So I guess that we can

confidently tell the thread starter that he can use the gerund, the

bare infinitive, or even the to-infinitive. For the sake of simplicity,

I would still prefer giving a clear rule: Use the gerund after "instead

of." But more advanced students will certainly benefit from the ideas that

you and Birdeen's Call brought to our attention. THANKS again!!!


***** NOT A TEACHER *****

P.S. Yes, she agrees: everyone would accept the "rather than"

construction.

 

[bhaisahab]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Engee,

STOP THE PRESSES!!! (I am a newspaper fan!!!)

I have just received a communication from another super

qualified teacher (I think that she actually grades the

test papers of international students). She says that

besides the gerund, she finds that the infinitive is fine.

In fact, she prefers the to-infinitive. Like you and Birdeen's

Call, she puts an emphasis on what the economy is CAUSING

them to do and what it is not CAUSING them to do.

Wow!!! Thanks to you and Birdeen's Call, I learned so much

about that so-called preposition. So I guess that we can

confidently tell the thread starter that he can use the gerund, the

bare infinitive, or even the to-infinitive. For the sake of simplicity,

I would still prefer giving a clear rule: Use the gerund after "instead

of." But more advanced students will certainly benefit from the ideas that

you and Birdeen's Call brought to our attention. THANKS again!!!


***** NOT A TEACHER *****

P.S. Yes, she agrees: everyone would accept the "rather than"

construction.

Not only do families have less money to spend, but fear of further increases in oil prices causes consumers to save instead of spend.
This is completely correct and natural English.

 

[TheParser]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Corum,


(1) Thank you for your kind note and the information about "instead of."

(2) The rules clearly state that non-teachers MUST state that fact at the start of

each post. Then visitors may choose to skip a non-teacher's post. It is vital

that learners not be confused by possibly wrong answers. A wise man once said

something like: Be careful what you put into your head. You will never be able

to get rid of it. I do not want to be responsible for giving wrong ideas to

learners. Furthermore, people of my generation are accustomed to obeying the

rules.

Thank you


***** NOT A TEACHER *****

 

[5jj]

Most (All?) of us already know that, TheParser, partly because it is clearly stated in your profile. :up: BTW, does being a teacher automatically classify someone as competent in grammar? :up:
I think you would spare a lot of energy if you skipped the "NOT A TEACHER" part in the future. Now back to business.

It would be helpful if more people were like Parser and actually read the forum guidelines.

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