Before starting our study of the peculiarities concerning the aforementioned linguistic fact, we will analyze the following occurrences:
| The student asked to leave early due to personal problems. The director asked employees to update their registration data. |
Both linguistic utterances make use of the verb to ask, which, analyzed according to its transitivity, appears as a direct and indirect transitive. Such a deduction becomes practical assuming that:
We always ask someone for something, reinforced in a purpose - Ask the secretary for permission to use the phone.
Once these characteristics are detected, we are left with a final analysis: in the case of traditional grammar, are the combinations in evidence (ask for and ask what) adequate for it? Or is there any particularity to which they refer? This is what we will unveil next.
How the correct use of certain expressions are directly linked to the context in which insert, the expression "ask for" can only be used when it denotes license, permission, authorization. As the example in evidence demonstrates:
I asked to be absent for a while during the meeting.
The boy asked not to be expelled from school.
In the case of the second example referring to the previous statements, let us return to it:
The director asked employees to update their registration data.
The use of preposition "for" it becomes undue insofar as there is no sense of authorization or permission in the context. Fact proven through the following excerpts:
I was asked to give a lecture at that event.
Athletes asked for the coach to be replaced.
The director asked employees to update their registration data.
By Vânia Duarte
Graduated in Letters
Brazil School Team
Grammar - Brazil School
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/gramatica/pedir-para-pedir-quepressupostos-semanticos.htm
