Minecraft is not the right game <to use it as a plot> vs <to use as a plot> for a movie

[Tony_M]

A: What did you do yesterday?
B: Nothing special. I decided to watch a movie, but it turned out to be a bad idea. The movie was awful.
A: Why?
B: Minecraft is not the right game to use it as a plot for a movie.

The verb "to use" is usually transitive (that's what Oxford Dictionary says), but on Corpus of Contemporary American English I've found a lot of examples of it being used intransitively.

Is the part in bold correct? Or should it be "use as a plot"? Or something else?

 

[emsr2d2]

A: What did you do yesterday?
B: Nothing special. I decided to watch a movie, but it turned out to be a bad idea. The movie was awful.
A: Why?
B: Minecraft is not the right game to use it as a the plot for a movie.

See above. In case it's not clear, I've struck through "it".

The verb "to use" is usually transitive (that's what Oxford Dictionary says), but on Corpus of Contemporary American English I've found a lot of examples of it being used intransitively.

It's transitive when it's used with a personal pronoun but that's not the case in your sentence. You're simply using the to infinitive. I suspect that's the case with the examples you mentioned above.

Is the part in bold correct no question mark here or should it be "use as a plot" no question mark here or something else?

Don't try to start sentences or questions with "or". All the options should be contained within one question, separated by commas or the word "or".

As you can see from my response to the first quote box at the top, it should be "... not the right game to use as the post".

 

[jutfrank]

In your example, you can't use 'it' because the understood object of 'use' is 'the right game'.

The only sense I can think of where 'use' is intransitive is where it's about drug use:

I haven't used for almost four days.

 

[güey]

B: Minecraft is not the right game to use it as a the plot for a movie.

May I ask why you corrected the article? To me, "a" was perfectly valid. It's not like in "the plot of a movie."

 

[emsr2d2]

May I ask why you corrected the article? To me, "a" was perfectly valid. It's not like in "the plot of a movie."

In general, films have one main plot. They might have sub-plots and various twists and turns but, as a rule, we talk about the plot of a film.

 

[güey]

In general, films have one main plot. They might have sub-plots and various twists and turns but, as a rule, we talk about the plot of a film.

Isn't "a plot for a movie" more like "a movie plot" than "the plot of a movie"?
The preposition "for" doesn't make "plot" specific enough, like "of" does, does it?

 

[Annabel Lee]

B: Minecraft is not the right game to use it as a plot for a movie.

The verb "to use" is usually transitive (that's what Oxford Dictionary says), but on Corpus of Contemporary American English I've found a lot of examples of it being used intransitively.

Is the part in bold correct? Or should it be "use as a plot"?

In your example, you can't use 'it' because the understood object of 'use' is 'the right game'.

The infinitive phrase following game may be analyzed as an infinitival relative clause modifying game. On that analysis, the verb use not only is transitive in that sentence but does have a direct object -- a deleted relative pronoun. Compare:

That's the game [they will use]. = That's the game [which they will use]. = That's the game [they will use which].

In infinitival relatives, the relative pronoun can only show up in surface structure when the relative pronoun functions as the object of a preposition in the relative clause and the prepositional phrase appears at the front of the clause. E.g.:

"As the fairy tale goes, Goldilocks finally found the right bed [in which to sink her flaxen tresses]."