Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
consent to have / consent to having
English answer:
can both be right? - yes
Added to glossary by
airmailrpl
Nov 27, 2018 23:28
5 yrs ago
31 viewers *
English term
consent to have / consent to having
English
Other
Idioms / Maxims / Sayings
In 'your' native English, is one of these sentences wrong? If so, which one? Or can both be right?
#1: I hereby consent to have my picture taken.
#2: I hereby consent to having my picture taken.
I'd also appreciate it if answerers and peer graders would specify if 'their' English is UK/I, American, Canadian, Australian..., as that might play a role.
There is no helpful context, really! This is something that resulted in a discussion at work today so I thought I'd get other opinions. So I'm asking you lot :-)
Thanks,
Cilian
#1: I hereby consent to have my picture taken.
#2: I hereby consent to having my picture taken.
I'd also appreciate it if answerers and peer graders would specify if 'their' English is UK/I, American, Canadian, Australian..., as that might play a role.
There is no helpful context, really! This is something that resulted in a discussion at work today so I thought I'd get other opinions. So I'm asking you lot :-)
Thanks,
Cilian
Responses
4 +3 | can both be right? - yes | airmailrpl |
4 +2 | Consent to having | Sarah Lewis-Morgan |
4 | n/a | Marie McCloud |
Change log
Dec 8, 2018 20:28: airmailrpl Created KOG entry
Responses
+3
5 hrs
Selected
can both be right? - yes
In 'my' native English (USA), is one of these sentences wrong?- no
If so, which one? - neither
Or can both be right? - yes
If so, which one? - neither
Or can both be right? - yes
Note from asker:
This seems to reflect the general consensus. Merci. |
Peer comment(s):
agree |
Jack Doughty
: Both are right in UK English too.
1 hr
|
thank you
|
|
agree |
Victoria Britten
: Yes (UK), though my personal preference/usage tends strongly towards "having"
4 hrs
|
thank you
|
|
neutral |
Edith Kelly
: Unless Cilian wants US English. But as he is Irish .... going with Victoria who should agree with Sarah's proposal
13 hrs
|
ok
|
|
agree |
David Moore (X)
: As another BE NS, I back Jack
3 days 13 hrs
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Seems like both are acceptable. Thanks everyone."
+2
11 hrs
Consent to having
As a native British (English) English speaker I would definitely not say someone would give consent to have their picture taken - it sounds wrong.
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Note added at 1 day 6 hrs (2018-11-29 06:24:02 GMT)
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Sorry for adding the "give", but in either case I would use "having". Either "Consent to having" or "Give consent to having". To "Consent to have" sounds just as wrong.
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Note added at 1 day 6 hrs (2018-11-29 06:24:02 GMT)
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Sorry for adding the "give", but in either case I would use "having". Either "Consent to having" or "Give consent to having". To "Consent to have" sounds just as wrong.
Note from asker:
But that's quite different, Sarah. There's no 'give' in my example. It's 'to consent to', not 'to give consent to' - consent as verb versus as noun. |
Peer comment(s):
agree |
Edith Kelly
: as Cilian is also Irish, I have to go for BE. I fully agree - hurts
7 hrs
|
Thank you.
|
|
agree |
AllegroTrans
: right (or at least much better) for UK and IRL
8 hrs
|
Thank you
|
|
neutral |
Yvonne Gallagher
: Yes, I'd personally use the gerund but the infinitive is not grammatically wrong
11 hrs
|
Thank you.
|
5 days
n/a
American English:
In my opinion (I am not a lawyer), either should suffice if the second half of the sentence clearly outlines the circumstances under which the permission is granted.
For example:
#1: I hereby consent to have my picture taken by ACME Photography or those acting on behalf of ACME Photography during the course of the Holiday Event described in paragraph 1.
#2: I hereby consent to having my picture taken by ACME Photography or those acting on behalf of ACME Photography during the course of the Holiday Event described in paragraph 1.
Personally, I prefer #1.
Discussion
Substituting "I object" is interesting and is clearly grammatically wrong. I'm not at all sure how it differs grammatically from "I consent to have". However, you could say "I refuse to have my picture taken". So, perhaps it is just about particular verbs being used in syntactically different ways. In that case, does the verb "to consent" follow the same syntax as "to object", or "to refuse"? Is there a logical reason behind it?
Maybe I'm thick - no need to comment :-)
If it was 'I AGREE to have/having my picture taken', I'd say both are fine, but somehow that doesn't work for me with 'consent'.
It wouldn't sound right to me with the verb 'to object' either, Would it be grammatically correct to say 'I OBJECT to have my picture taken'?
That example above could be varied to form the sentence "I'd like having my picture taken." Clearly, the meaning has changed and what the subject would like is no longer the result (getting a picture), but the process of posing for the picture.
I came across the 'have' version in a text I was editing, which was written by a German who fancies his English and always insists I only make absolutely essential corrections. He wanted British English. It sounded wrong to me so I changed it. In fact I felt confident it was as wrong as writing e.g. "I look forward to SEE you".
Anyway, after the editing I ran a speller and 2 grammar checks, one of which actually highlighted my 'having' and suggested I change it to 'have'. That got me thinking, hence my Q here. In the end, after also asking other native speakers (from Irl, US and Canada), I reluctantly changed it back to 'have' though I still don't like it. It seems that UK/I have a preference for 'having' but many accept both. So I've learned something new, though I reckon I'll continue to make this change for other customers, who don't take corrections to their English as an affront.
Nice evening to all.
"As a UK person I think that "I hereby consent to have X done" sounds more like a one-off thing, whereas "I hereby consent to having X done" sounds more like consenting to something that could be done more than once."
"consent to being tested" (Merriam Webster) https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/consent
"consent to do something" (Macmillan) https://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/c...
The US section of the Oxford Online indicates "consent to do". https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/eng...