• Exciting news! With our new Ad-Free Premium Subscription you can enjoy a distraction-free browsing experience while supporting our site's growth. Without ads, you have less distractions and enjoy faster page load times. Upgrade is optional. Find out more here, and enjoy ad-free learning with us!

With or without preposition are these sentences correct?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Raju0

Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2017
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Kannada
Home Country
India
Current Location
India
1.He listens to classical music every night.
2.He listens classical music every night.
In the first, the sentence used the preposition "to" and in the second, no preposition is used.
Are these sentences correct? Do these sentences mean the same? or is any mistake in these sentences with or without preposition?
 

Matthew Wai

VIP Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2013
Member Type
Native Language
Chinese
Home Country
China
Current Location
China
'Listen' is intransitive, so I consider it incorrect to omit the preposition.
 

bubbha

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2016
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
Taiwan
1. is correct.
2. is wrong.

In fact, saying "listen music" is a very common mistake made by non-native speakers.
 

Raju0

Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2017
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Kannada
Home Country
India
Current Location
India
'Listen' is intransitive, so I consider it incorrect to omit the preposition.

1. If they were now listening, I should be informing them of this circumstance.
2. You must speak in this way, whether they listen or not.
3. One time he listens, and another time he does not.
4. If such a person as you speak, of course he will listen.

In these sentences why "to" is not used?
 
Last edited:

Matthew Wai

VIP Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2013
Member Type
Native Language
Chinese
Home Country
China
Current Location
China
Because there is no object.
 

Raju0

Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2017
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Kannada
Home Country
India
Current Location
India
Because there is no object.

If an object is not mentioned, then is it to be understood by context and there must be the object in the sentence right?
 

Tdol

Editor, UsingEnglish.com
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Member Type
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan

GoesStation

No Longer With Us
Joined
Dec 22, 2015
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
In these sentences why isn't "to" [strike]is not[/strike] used?
Note the correct way to form a question. A more common word order would be ​Why isn't "to" used in these sentences?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top