0

Can one use

a. I will clean the kitchen if you want that.

b. I will clean the kitchen if you want it.

instead of

c. I will clean the kitchen if you want.

I'd use (c) or

d. I will clean the kitchen if that is what you want.

But I wanted to see if (a) and (b) could have the same meaning.

Improve this question
1
  • 2
    c is idiomatic. d is slightly "starchy" (possibly implying exasperation on the part of the speaker). But neither a nor b are really valid. You could validly use a1: ...if you want that doing or b1: ...if you want it [to be] done (perhaps even reversed), but there aren't many if any contexts where any of those would be the best choice. Note that ...if you like is at least as common as the want version c, but you can't use like with any variant of a, b, or d.
    – FumbleFingers
    Jun 11 at 11:20

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

c is idiomatic. d is slightly "starchy" (possibly implying exasperation on the part of the speaker). But neither a nor b are really valid. You could validly use a1: ...if you want that doing or b1: ...if you want it [to be] done (perhaps even reversed), but there aren't many if any contexts where any of those would be the best choice. Note that ...if you like is at least as common as the want version c, but you can't use like with any variant of a, b, or d. – FumbleFingers

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .