|
|
Wed Jun 21, 2006 22:02 pm Keep your promise vs Keep to your promise |
|
|
| Phoo wrote: | What is the difference b/w the following two?
1. Keep your promise 2. Keep to your promise |
Hi
In my opinion, we keep our promise, we honour our promise, we fulfill our promise, but we do not keep to our promise.
We also break our promise, go back on our promise and extract a promise from someone.
I hope this helps a bit.
Tom |
|
Tom I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 30 May 2006 Posts: 1976
|
|
Thu Jun 22, 2006 13:03 pm Keep your promise vs Keep to your promise |
|
|
Hi
Tom's examples were good, but I'm afraid I'm going to disagree with him a little bit about "keep to". 
While it is more common or "standard" to say "keep your promise", saying "keep to your promise" would also be OK in certain situations. For example, in a situation where you want to talk about a promise very precisely or exactly. In other words, a very strict adherence to all the details of the promise.
It might be in a situation where a person is more or less already keeping his promise, but not 100%. Maybe he's been leaving out some of the details or has started to stray from keeping his promise. So you might have to remind him to keep to his promise with regard to this detail or that detail.
Amy _________________ Amy
.
ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English |
|
Yankee I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 7378 Location: Northeast US
|
 |
Thu Jun 22, 2006 13:21 pm Promise |
|
|
Hi,
I'm not really sold on keep to your promise. Keep your promise would be my preference. If you're determined to stress the idea of adherence, then I would say; Stick to your promise
Not wishing to sound stuck up
Alan _________________ English as a Second Language You can read my ESL story Progressive Forms |
|
Alan Co-founder

Joined: 27 Sep 2003 Posts: 7191 Location: UK
|
 |
Thu Jun 22, 2006 13:25 pm Keep your promise vs Keep to your promise |
|
|
Hi Alan
I agree with you there. Stick to your promise would certainly be more common.
Amy _________________ Amy
.
ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English |
|
Yankee I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 7378 Location: Northeast US
|
 |
Thu Jun 22, 2006 19:51 pm Keep your promise vs Keep to your promise |
|
|
Hi, thank you for all of you for answering my question!
I just ran into the expression "keep to ~" on my dictionary and this was the first time I had seen. I was wondering how this "to" functioned and if it made the meaning different from other without "to".
I've got the point. "to" make a sense of reconfirmation, emphasis or sometimes adds a little sense of accusation, so maybe I shouldn't use it and had better to "stick to the standard way".
Thank you again and have a nice day!
Phoo |
|
Phoo I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 19 Apr 2006 Posts: 119
|
 |
Fri Jun 23, 2006 6:58 am Keep your promise vs Keep to your promise |
|
|
Hey, Amy!
Very, very glad to see the word "Moderator" with your name...finally.
I had been toying with the idea to suggest to you that you should write "Moderator" instead of "I am a communicator" , and before I could clothe my thought...
By the way, what took you so long?
Tom |
|
Tom I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 30 May 2006 Posts: 1976
|
 |
Fri Jun 23, 2006 7:04 am Keep your promise vs Keep to your promise |
|
|
| Phoo wrote: | | so maybe I shouldn't use it and had better to "stick to the standard way". |
Hi Phoo
You must not use to with had better. See below, please.
1- You had better leave this place as soon as possible. 2- She had better wait for the money.
Tom |
|
Tom I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 30 May 2006 Posts: 1976
|
 |
Fri Jun 23, 2006 18:39 pm Keep your promise vs Keep to your promise |
|
|
Hi Tom,
Thanks for correcting my mistake. I correct your mistake in return. "suggest" is a transitive verb, therefore, "suggest to you" should be written as "suggest you".
Have a nice weekend!
Phoo |
|
Phoo I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 19 Apr 2006 Posts: 119
|
 |
Fri Jun 23, 2006 19:14 pm Suggest |
|
|
Hi,
Let me be the arbiter. I suggest that you do these exercises OR I suggest to you that you do these exercises
Both are acceptable.
Alan _________________ English as a Foreign Language You can read my EFL story Three Letters for You? |
|
Alan Co-founder

Joined: 27 Sep 2003 Posts: 7191 Location: UK
|
 |
Sat Jun 24, 2006 14:30 pm Keep your promise vs Keep to your promise |
|
|
Hi Alan,
Thank you for being the arbiter.
My dictonary and other dictionaries including "Longman" say that "suggest" is a transitive verb. I think that means the verb takes object without prepositon, doesn't it?
Phoo |
|
Phoo I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 19 Apr 2006 Posts: 119
|
 |
Sat Jun 24, 2006 15:49 pm Suggest |
|
|
Hi Phoo,
Yes, suggest is transitive in the sense that it is usually followed by a direct object but in these sentences:
| Quote: | | I suggest that you do these exercises OR I suggest to you that you do these exercises |
it (suggest) is followed by another sentence -technically a noun clause (object). Take another verb recommend - you can recommend a grammar book (direct object) or you can say:
I recommend that you buy this book
or
I recommend to you that you buy this book
Hope that makes sense.
Alan _________________ English as a Second Language You can read my ESL story Not Really |
|
Alan Co-founder

Joined: 27 Sep 2003 Posts: 7191 Location: UK
|
 |
Sat Jun 24, 2006 17:53 pm Keep your promise vs Keep to your promise |
|
|
When a verb takes two objects such as:
"I give you a watch." (Indirect Object=you, Direct Object=watch) We also could say "I give a watch to you."
Your explanation reminds me of this structure.
"I recommend to you that ---." (Indirect Object=you, Direct Object2=that---)
So can we also say: "I recommend that --- to you." ??
Phoo |
|
Phoo I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 19 Apr 2006 Posts: 119
|
 |
|
| Meaning of "the ease with" | Using 'that would kill me' |