a pan to heat them in

[navi tasan]

Are these sentences correct?

1) He ate the beans cold, which is strange because he had a pan to heat them in.

2) He witnessed the accident and didn't do anything, which is strange because he had a phone in his pocket to call the police.

3) Someone broke into his house. He had a rifle to shoot the intruder, but decided not to use it. He hid in the bathroom and called the police.




Merry Christmas.

Gratefully,
Navi

 

[Rover_KE]

Where did you find those sentences?

See also this thread.

 

[navi tasan]

Thank you very much, Rover,

That other thread was started by my wife. The answer she got did make sense, but it wasn't clear for either of us whether the structure used in it was grammatical or not. That's why I tried to come up with more viable examples based on her idea. I might have failed.

The question is whether "he had a phone in his pocket to call the police" could be used instead of 'he had a phone in his pocket with which he could call the police".

The latter formulation might be clearer, but it is longer. Is the infinitival structure incorrect in these cases? That was the question.


Respectfully,
Navi

 

[Tarheel]

I know I've said this before, but I'll say it again. You don't have to put everything in one sentence, and, in fact, sometimes it's better if you don't.

As for your "police" sentence, I would say: "he had a phone in his pocket with which he could have called the police."

Except I wouldn't say that. It would be more natural, in my opinion, to say:

He witnessed the accident, but he didn't call the cops even though he had a phone in his pocket and could have.

 

[Tarheel]

Now let's look at the "pan" sentence. Try:

He ate the beans cold, which is strange because he had a pan he could have heated them in.

The original seems to say the purpose of the pan was for heating the beans.

 

[Tarheel]

Now let's look at the "rifle" sentence. Try:

Someone broke into his house. He had a rifle, and he could have shot the intruder, but instead of doing that he hid in the bathroom and called the police.

 

[Tdol]

Yes, but you need a pan and a heat source.

 

[Tarheel]

Yes, but you need a pan and a heat source.

Yes, or put the beans in the microwave.

 

[emsr2d2]

Yes, or put the beans in the microwave.

In which case, you don't need the pan!

 

[jutfrank]

Are these sentences correct?

That other thread was started by my wife. The answer she got did make sense, but it wasn't clear for either of us whether the structure used in it was grammatical or not.

The latter formulation might be clearer, but it is longer. Is the infinitival structure incorrect in these cases? That was the question.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by 'correct/incorrect' and 'grammatical'. You'd be better off asking how well the sentences without the prepositions express the speaker's meaning.

Use the prepositions. As lingobingo told you in the other thread, the version with the prepositions read much better. I can't see what more information you need. What do you mean by 'incorrect'?