There is nothing better .....

[JACEK1]

Hello,

I wonder which structure is better:

1) There is nothing better for him to do than to go outside to play with children.

2) There is nothing better (to do) than for him to go outside to play with children.

Could you express your opinion on the sentence?

The two examples were made up by me and are about a little boy.

I think the second version is correct but I may have misapplied (to do) in the sentence.

 

[jutfrank]

What is it you mean exactly?

He likes nothing better than to play outside with other children.
He has nothing better to do than go outside and play with the other children.

I think you mean something similar to the first sentence above but I'm not sure.

 

[JACEK1]

I would apply the structure to your second sentence.

 

[jutfrank]

I would apply the structure to your second sentence.

What do you mean?

 

[JACEK1]

Your second sentence is closer in meaning to the sentence in question.

 

[jutfrank]

Your second sentence is closer in meaning to the sentence in question.

Do you mean my second sentence does not convey exactly what you mean?

 

[JACEK1]

In my opinion, the sentence in question does not mention "like".

It seems to me that "I have nothing better to do ....." is a more accurate counterpart of the sentence in question.

Please note that I am not a native speaker of English and my conclusions are subjective. They may be wrong.

 

[jutfrank]

In my opinion, the sentence in question does not mention "like".

I don't understand. Do you mean that's a good thing or a bad thing?

Please just tell us exactly what you mean, and we'll tell you how to say it.

 

[JACEK1]

First of all, I would like to tell you that I heard such structure in a commercial which said more or less "There is nothing better for kids than to eat some snacks".

I transformed the sentence from the commercial into "There is nothing better for him to do than to go outside to play with children".

Afterwards, I realised that the same thought could be expressed differently, hence I introduced some little changes and "There is nothing better (to do) than for him to go outside to play with children" was formed.

That is the whole story except that the laptop keeps making a fool of me.