English isn’t my native language, but to me it sounds like there should be an “on” in place of “to” there? Is it correct grammar? And if it is, does it still sound equally “wrong” to someone natively speaking English or is this some weird quirk of the second language experience?
Thanks! That’s surprising. We’d actually use the equivalent of “to” here too. Weird how our foreign language intuition works. I go by how sentences “taste” when I read them and it’s usually correct, this time somehow it has a weird encumbered taste with the “to”, yet it is correct.
If only the day-to-day autopilot part of the mind would work from what we’ve learnt literally as opposed to some weird personal associative “feeling”. Or maybe that’s just me…
I think either “to” or “on” would be acceptable in that context. English likes to use “to” with attention, like in the phrases “pay attention to” or “draw attention to”, often emphasizing the change in focus. But you can also keep your attention “on” something.
As a native English speaker from the US east coast, I would probably have chosen “on”. Just sounds better to me to use “on” instead of “to” when there is no associated verb like “pay” or “draw”. Not sure why.
English isn’t my native language, but to me it sounds like there should be an “on” in place of “to” there? Is it correct grammar? And if it is, does it still sound equally “wrong” to someone natively speaking English or is this some weird quirk of the second language experience?
No.
Yes.
Probably connected to how your native language would construct a similar sentence.
Thanks! That’s surprising. We’d actually use the equivalent of “to” here too. Weird how our foreign language intuition works. I go by how sentences “taste” when I read them and it’s usually correct, this time somehow it has a weird encumbered taste with the “to”, yet it is correct.
If only the day-to-day autopilot part of the mind would work from what we’ve learnt literally as opposed to some weird personal associative “feeling”. Or maybe that’s just me…
Anyway, thanks!
I think either “to” or “on” would be acceptable in that context. English likes to use “to” with attention, like in the phrases “pay attention to” or “draw attention to”, often emphasizing the change in focus. But you can also keep your attention “on” something.
As a native English speaker from the US east coast, I would probably have chosen “on”. Just sounds better to me to use “on” instead of “to” when there is no associated verb like “pay” or “draw”. Not sure why.