call to the restaurant

[GeneD]

Could you call the restaurant and make a reservation for tonight?

Is it possible to say "call to the restaurant"?

 

[GeneD]

Is "make a call to the restaurant" also impossible?

 

[Rover_KE]

It's not impossible, but it's not natural.

 

[Tdol]

Is "make a call to the restaurant" also impossible?

It doesn't sound that bad to me.

 

[GeneD]

Maybe in post 3 I should have used "a phone call" instead of just "a call". And maybe it would sound wordy (if not inorrect) to say "I have to make a phone call to someone". (I can't help putting "to" after "call" which is a noun there. I don't really know why. If it's incorrect to put "to" there, it sounds even more incorrect without it to my foreign ear.) So I'll try to rephrase the example a little.

I have to make a phone call. Without saying anything about the addressee it doesn't sound wordy to me.
If, after the example above, there was a further question, what would it be: "To whom?" or just "Whom?"?

 

[jutfrank]

Is it possible to say "call to the restaurant"?

Use to only when call is a noun, not a verb.

 

[GeneD]

Use to only when call is a noun, not a verb.

That's exactly what I'm asking about! In post 1, call was a verb, and, after Piscean's reply, I figured out that the sentence was incorrect probably because of it. In post 3, call was a noun, and I got confused after Rover's reply ("it's not impossible, but it's not natural"). That's the reason why I posted #6. And I'm still confused (if not more confused) after your reply.

 

[jutfrank]

I'm still confused (if not more confused) after your reply.

What are you confused about?

Rover KE wasn't saying that post #3 was ungrammatical, just not very natural, as we would usually just use the verb call the restaurant.

 

[GeneD]

What are you confused about?

1. Does I have to make a phone call sound natural?
2. What question would be correct? To whom? If so, would it be natural? Had I better forget about making phone calls and stick to simple call as a verb?
3. Or is it unnatural to make calls to restaurants since they are not living things? If so, it's confusing anyway; if it's okay to call restaurants, why should it be wrong to make a call to them?

 

[jutfrank]

1. Is I have to make a phone call sounds natural?
2. What question would be correct? To whom? If so, would it be natural? Had I better forget about making phone calls and stick to simple call as a verb?
3. Or is it unnatural to make calls to restaurants since they are not living things? If so, it's confusing anyway; if it's okay to call restaurants, why should it be wrong to make a call to them?

1. Yes.
2. To whom? or To who? or Who to?
3. Use either:

• to make a call (focus on the action, not the recipient)
• to call somebody (focus on the recipient)

Since the choice of the verb you use depends on what you want to focus on, use either one of the above verb structures. It's unnecessary to combine them so it sounds rather unnatural when you do. We use make a call when we don't want to say who it's to.

 

[GeneD]

Thanks, Piscean. That's a pretty funny mistake. I know the rule, and yet this happens time after time that I mix up do and be.