instigating the office or company

[lemmor]

I seek your help once more. Please check if my sentence is grammatically correct?. (And again, thank you to all of you wonderful people, who are always willing to share!! :

The employees revolt instigates the company to close.

 

[MikeNewYork]

Assuming that the company has already closed, I would say "The employee revolt caused the company to close."

 

[BobK]

:up:

Instigate takes a noun: 'A instigates B'. B could be 'the closure'. But 'The employee revolt instigated the closure of the company', although grammatical, would not be likely. 'Caused' or 'triggered' would be better.

b

 

[Matthew Wai]

'The employee revolt instigated the decline of the company which closed consequently.'
Is it possible?

 

[BobK]

Yes, but I think 'set off' or 'started' is more likely. I get the feeling that instigation involves persuading someone to do something: 'She didn't get her hands dirty, but I'm sure she instigated the robbery.'

In this case (the decline and eventual closure of the company), persuasion IS present, but it only happens towards the end of the decline.

b

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

'The employee revolt instigated the decline of the company which closed consequently.'
Is it possible?

No. We don't use instigate this way. Find another verb. Caused and triggered were suggested above. You could also use:

- led to.
- resulted in.
- meant.
- heralded.
- foreshadowed.
- prompted.

Only people can instigate. So you could say that the union president instigated the revolt. Or that the members of the local church instigated the revolt. Or (of course!) that revolutionaries instigated the revolt. But the revolt can't instigate anything.

And put a comma after company. Otherwise, you're telling us which company.

Hope that helps!

 

[lemmor]

Many thanks. I've been learning a lot.

 

[Rover_KE]

There is no need to write a new post just to say "Thank you", lemmor. It makes us think there is new information or a follow-up question and we spend time opening the thread. Simply click on the "Thank" button at the bottom left-hand corner of any post you find helpful.