Forum: French
Topic: Grammaire: Convaincre que de?
Poster: Neil Coffey
Post title: @SonengoleA Optional pre-infinitival marker
[quote]SonengoleA wrote:
Mark Smith convinced his company that having Type 1 diabetes shouldn't keep [/quote]
In this case the "de" has essentially the same grammatical status as "to" before an infinitive in English, "zu" before an infinitive in German, etc: it's essentially a "pre-infinitival marker". In French, the "de", where it is possible at all, is generally completely optional, but tends to occur in certain cases, one such case being when the infinitival clause in question is itself the subject of another clause-- i.e. the type of case that you have here. As far as I'm aware, the issue is not really to do with the verb "convaincre" per se, but simply that the infinitive clause is the subject of another clause.
I'm not even aware of a consensus among prescriptivists that they would advocate the "de" as being mandatory here, but on the other hand you'll always find some grammarian or other that has outlawed or advocated pretty much anything if you look hard enough...
Topic: Grammaire: Convaincre que de?
Poster: Neil Coffey
Post title: @SonengoleA Optional pre-infinitival marker
[quote]SonengoleA wrote:
Mark Smith convinced his company that having Type 1 diabetes shouldn't keep [/quote]
In this case the "de" has essentially the same grammatical status as "to" before an infinitive in English, "zu" before an infinitive in German, etc: it's essentially a "pre-infinitival marker". In French, the "de", where it is possible at all, is generally completely optional, but tends to occur in certain cases, one such case being when the infinitival clause in question is itself the subject of another clause-- i.e. the type of case that you have here. As far as I'm aware, the issue is not really to do with the verb "convaincre" per se, but simply that the infinitive clause is the subject of another clause.
I'm not even aware of a consensus among prescriptivists that they would advocate the "de" as being mandatory here, but on the other hand you'll always find some grammarian or other that has outlawed or advocated pretty much anything if you look hard enough...