[Grammar] "I don't know how Steve does to stay awake because it's 02:30 in his country."

[Sneymarin]

"I don't know how Steve does to stay awake because it's 02:30 in his country."

Hello, I was chatting in a Discord server when someone sent this message:
"I don't know how Steve does to stay awake because it's 02:30 in his country."
The context consists in basically Steve being awake at such a late time and the author of the sentence is wondering how Steve manages to stay awake this late.
I tried to correct him and said that he should write "what" instead of "how", but after thinking about it for sometime I started doubting if I were actually correct because if you were to replace "does" with "manages" it would be correct. Is it because of the verb "do"? I would appreciate it if someone could tell me whether using "how" in that sentence is correct or not and why.

Thank you for your time

 

[Tarheel]

Re: "I don't know how Steve does to stay awake because it's 02:30 in his country."

Hello, I was chatting on a Discord server when someone sent this message:
"I don't know how Steve manages to stay awake so late. It's 02:30 in his country."
The context consists in basically Steve being awake at such a late time, and the author of the sentence is wondering how Steve manages to stay awake so late.
I tried to correct him and said that he should write "what" instead of "how", but after thinking about it for sometime I started doubting if I were actually correct because if you were to replace "does" with "manages" it would be correct. Is it because of the verb "do"? I would appreciate it if someone could tell me whether using "how" in that sentence is correct or not and why.

I guess you mean 2:30 AM.

You don't know. The person might have insomnia.

:-|

 

[Sneymarin]

Re: "I don't know how Steve does to stay awake because it's 02:30 in his country."

Is "I don't know how he does to stay awake" grammatically incorrect?

 

[GoesStation]

Re: "I don't know how Steve does to stay awake because it's 02:30 in his country."

Is "I don't know how he does to stay awake" grammatically incorrect?

It's incorrect. As you suggested, the writer could change how to what to fix it.

 

[probus]

Re: "I don't know how Steve does to stay awake because it's 02:30 in his country."

The person could also have said "I don't know how Steve does it, staying awake so late."

 

[jutfrank]

Re: "I don't know how Steve does to stay awake because it's 02:30 in his country."

Using does basically means manages, yes. I've a feeling that it's a certain way of talking for some people.

emsr2d2—is this a British English expression? It sounds natural to me.

 

[emsr2d2]

Re: "I don't know how Steve does to stay awake because it's 02:30 in his country."

Using does basically means manages, yes. I've a feeling that it's a certain way of talking for some people.

emsr2d2—is this a British English expression? It sounds natural to me.

Yes, "I don't know how he does it" means (roughly) "I don't know how he manages it" in BrE too.

For the original, "I don't know how he stays awake so late" would be simpler.

 

[jutfrank]

Re: "I don't know how Steve does to stay awake because it's 02:30 in his country."

Yes, "I don't know how he does it" means (roughly) "I don't know how he manages it" in BrE too.

Yes but we're wondering about I don't know how he does to ...

Anyway, I'm pretty sure this is a common form of expression, among speakers of British English, at least. I wouldn't recommend it to learners, though.

 

[GoesStation]

Re: "I don't know how Steve does to stay awake because it's 02:30 in his country."

Yes but we're wondering about I don't know how he does to ...

Anyway, I'm pretty sure this is a common form of expression, among speakers of British English, at least. I wouldn't recommend it to learners, though.

It really doesn't work in American English. How he does it is fine, but not how he does to.

 

[emsr2d2]

Re: "I don't know how Steve does to stay awake because it's 02:30 in his country."

Oh, no, "... how he does to ..." is certainly not grammatical in BrE.

 

[jutfrank]

Re: "I don't know how Steve does to stay awake because it's 02:30 in his country."

Oh, no, "... how he does to ..." is certainly not grammatical in BrE.

As I say, it's a form of expression where does means 'manages'. If you'd never heard it before, it would sound ungrammatical. I think it's fine for a native speaker. Learners shouldn't try to use it, though.

 

[emsr2d2]

Re: "I don't know how Steve does to stay awake because it's 02:30 in his country."

I've certainly never heard it. For me:

I don't know how he does that. :tick:
I don't know how he manages that. :tick:
I don't how he manages to stay awake. :tick:
I don't know how he does to stay awake. :cross:

 

[jutfrank]

Re: "I don't know how Steve does to stay awake because it's 02:30 in his country."

Is there really nobody else out there who recognises this?

 

[emsr2d2]

Re: "I don't know how Steve does to stay awake because it's 02:30 in his country."

Is there really nobody else out there who recognises this?

Was it you the other day who used "gotten" too? I think you're living in a very strange part of the UK! ;-)

 

[jutfrank]

Re: "I don't know how Steve does to stay awake because it's 02:30 in his country."

I was starting to think it may be a northern England thing, though I can clearly imagine my mother saying it and she's from Cambridgeshire.

I couldn't find any examples in the BNC or COCA. However, I found several with a bit of googling. Some seemed to be by non-native speakers, and among the native speaker instances, the majority seemed to be American. (It's sometimes hard to tell.)

I searched: "I don't know how he/she does to".
[FONT=&quot]


[/FONT]