He took us many places.

[emp0608]

Does "He took us many places" sound more natural than "He took us to many places" in colloquial English?
Thank you.

 

[Rover_KE]

No. 'He took us to a lot of places' sounds colloquial.

 

[emp0608]

Thank you. But I still want to know if the omission of "to" is quite acceptable in casual speech.

 

[Rover_KE]

It's not colloquial in BrE. AmE speakers will comment when they get up in five hours' time.

EDIT: click here to read an American's opinion.

 

[emp0608]

Thank you. I'll wait for them to wake up.

 

[emsr2d2]

I would say "He took us a lot of places" without the "to" (BrE).

He took me a lot of places I'd never been before.

I wouldn't omit the "to" in formal writing/speaking or in an exam, but you'll hear it without "to" quite frequently.

 

[emp0608]

Thank you. So even in BrE the "to" is often omitted in casual speech.

 

[emsr2d2]

That is, effectively, what I said. However, you will note the bhaisahab disagreed and said it's not colloquial in BrE. You'll find this a lot in English. It might be a regional difference or it might simply be that one native speaker has never encountered a particular construction and someone else has.

 

[emp0608]

Thank you for your explanation. But your comment "I wouldn't omit the "to" in formal writing/speaking or in an exam, but you'll hear it without "to" quite frequently." is more important to me because what I really wanted to know is whether I should teach the omission of the "to" in the sentence to Japanese high school students or not. The answer seems clearly to be 'No'.

 

[Tdol]

Thank you. So even in BrE the "to" is often omitted in casual speech.

It might be regional, but you will hear it in BrE. I am not sure how frequent it is, though, but it's not uncommon.

 

[emp0608]

Thank you for additional information.

 

[emsr2d2]

Thank you for your explanation. But your comment "I wouldn't omit the "to" in formal writing/speaking or in an exam, but you'll hear it without "to" quite frequently." is more important to me because what I really wanted to know is whether I should teach the omission of the "to" in the sentence to Japanese high school students or not. The answer seems clearly to be 'No'.

If your students are able to understand and accept that they will hear it but they shouldn't use it, then teach them about it. If you think it will confuse them, don't teach it to them.

 

[emp0608]

Thank you for your suggestion. I think the occasional omission of "to" before the word "place(s)" is something they don't have to know yet.

 

[MikeNewYork]

In AmE, the "to" would be commonly omitted.