To have a meeting with you is like ...

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1 To have a meeting with you is like to have a meeting with a VIP.

2 To have a meeting with you are like to have a meeting with a VIP.

Which is the correct one?

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Type: Question • Score: 2 • Views: 1,865 • Replies: 22

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@Din1,

Having a meeting with you IS like having a meeting with a VIP.

1 Reply

@engineer,

Thank you
Why can't we say 'To have a meeting'?

4 Replies

@Din1,

....Simply because native speakers tend not to.
Acceptability to a native speaker is one definition of "grammar"

3 Replies

@fresco,

Thank you.
I accept your answer.
However, it is correct to say we are going to have a meeting with the director.

0 Replies

@Din1,

It's always better NOT to start a sentence with a preposition.

Quote:

To have a meeting with you is like to have a meeting with a VIP.

Having a meeting with you is like having a meeting with a VIP.

or

A meeting with you is as good as a meeting with a VIP.

Joe('as' is better than 'like')Nation

2 Replies

@Joe Nation,

Thank you.
I read some sentences in news articles which start with the word 'And'.
It looks odd.

1 Reply

@Din1,

Din1 wrote:

Thank you.
I read some sentences in news articles which start with the word 'And'.
It looks odd.

Avoid doing that; conjunctions shoud be CONJOINED to something.

0 Replies

@Din1,

Din1 wrote:

Thank you
Why can't we say 'To have a meeting'?

You can say "to have a meeting".

To have a meeting with you is like having a meeting with God.

To dance with Mary is like dancing with an angel.

0 Replies

@fresco,

fresco wrote:

....Simply because native speakers tend not to.
Acceptability to a native speaker is one definition of "grammar"

But not a very reliable one. Many native speakers have different registers.

1 Reply

@Joe Nation,

Joe Nation wrote:

It's always better NOT to start a sentence with a preposition.

Do people still peddle that old lie?

1 Reply

@contrex,

"Reliable"

Come on now contrex. You know very well that language is like fashion. Why confuse an EFL questioner who is looking for a quick fix ?

0 Replies

@Din1,

I personally don't care for it, but you could say "To have a meeting with you is like having a meeting with a VIP." You cannot say "... is like to have a meeting with a VIP" no matter what you put in front.

0 Replies

@contrex,

Yup, Contrex, unless you are being poetic, it is always better to avoid beginning a sentence with a preposition.

Don't send me a business letter or anything official using such a construction, I, and I think people in general, will think less of you.

What you do in your correspondence on the Internet is entirely up to you.

Joe(about, above, across, after, against, around, behind, beside, besides...... . )Nation

3 Replies

@Joe Nation,

Joe Nation wrote:

Don't send me a business letter or anything official using such a construction, I, and I think people in general, will think less of you.

Joe(about, above, across, after, against, around, behind, beside, besides...... . )Nation

Will u think less of them
if thay send u run-on sentences, Jon ?

1 Reply

@OmSigDAVID,

Some people thinks it is correct to write 'To have a meeting ... ' at the beginning of a sentence.

1 Reply

@Din1,

Din1 wrote:

Some people thinks it is correct to write
'To have a meeting ... ' at the beginning of a sentence.

It 'd be a little unusual,
but in some circumstances, I can conceive of it;
e.g.: "To have a meeting with Joyce, the love of my life,
I 'd climb a mountain. I 'd swim a sea."

"To have a meeting with Joe Blow, we better get there fast,
before his place closes."

0 Replies

@Joe Nation,

Joe Nation wrote:

it is always better to avoid beginning a sentence with a preposition

I must correct myself: there is no old myth being peddled here, just an error caused by confusion. There is an old grammar prescription that one should never end a sentence with a preposition, but nowadays most language experts don't abide by this "rule"—it's often called a myth. On the other hand, I've never, ever, heard of a rule forbidding the practice of starting a sentence with one.

On the other hand, Joe likes cars.
After church, we visited the zoo.
By noon, the meeting should be finished.
Over the summer break, Peter read six novels.
After an hour, they decided to go home.
Under the table, the dog found some food.
In the middle of the night, the baby woke up.
In the desert, it is very hot.

There is a fairly widely accepted recommendation that one should use a comma following an introductory prepositional phrase, especially if it is longer than four or five words.

0 Replies

@Joe Nation,

Joe Nation wrote:

Yup, Contrex, unless you are being poetic, it is always better to avoid beginning a sentence with a preposition.

Don't send me a business letter or anything official using such a construction, I, and I think people in general, will think less of you.

What you do in your correspondence on the Internet is entirely up to you.

Joe(about, above, across, after, against, around, behind, beside, besides...... . )Nation

word

1 Reply

@ehBeth,

ehBeth wrote:

word

To summarise: ending a sentence with a preposition is still controversial, and many people avoid it. Starting a sentence with one is absolutely fine, and always has been. A quick Google or look in a grammar book would have saved Joe from the egg which is now firmly adhering to his face. If there were such a rule, I could not magnanimously echo Alexander Pope in the sentence that follows. To err is human; to forgive, divine.

2 Replies

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