put the child in her care

[azz]

Can one say
a. They put the child in her English grandmother's care to learn English.
b. They gave the puppy to her to be happy.
?

Who is going to be happy in (b)? She or the puppy?

My feeling is that (b) doesn't really work. To me it means that they are going to be happy.

Many thanks.

 

[Tarheel]

The first one is okay. I would rephrase the second one. Try:

They gave her a puppy to make her happy.

 

[Tarheel]

For the first one, try:

They put the child in her English grandmother's care so she could learn English.

(You can thank me now.)

 

[Tdol]

If you wanted to show that the puppy would be happy, something like this would work:

They gave her the puppy to make it happy.

 

[Tarheel]

I think the puppy would be happy no matter what.

 

[Tdol]

Almost certainly, but the motive behind giving the puppy could vary.