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      Expression 'pave the way'
      Submitted by sm_counsell on 16 December, 2011 - 15:43

      I've just read the following:

      "a good working environment paves the way to make job sharing more effective......."

      I had always thought that 'pave the way' was to be followed by the prep.'for'

      " a good working environment paves the way for making.............

      and I could possibly agree with

      "pave the way to making  job sharing..........

       

      I'd appreciate any comments

      ‹ Subject-predicate Difficulties with vocabulary acquisition ›

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      Heath's picture
      Heath
      A new clause?
      Submitted on 25 December, 2011 - 02:55

      I believe it is intended as two separate clauses, with the second clause indicating reason or result.  Here it is broken down, with a couple of other examples to show exactly what I mean:

      1) A good work environment paves the way   +   to make job sharing more effective

      2) He reinstalled Windows                             +   to fix the computer.

      3) I usually drive                                          +  to get there quicker.

              Clause 1 (finite, main clause)                   Clause 2 (non-finite, dependent clause)

       

      If it was a single clause that included a preposition phrase, then it would need the collocating 'for'.  In that case, I guess a gerund is possible, but it would probably be used more like a noun than a clause.

      4) A good work environment paves the way (for effective job sharing).

      5) He reinstalled Windows                           (on his computer).

      6) I usually drive                                       (to work).

          Clause                                                 Preposition phrase

      Tip:  If 'to' is involved, try to work out whether it is being used as a preposition (usually indicating direction as in sentence 6) or as part of an infinitive form (setting up a dependent clause as in sentence 3).