"{migration/migrating/that you migrate} soon" -- Regarding the adverb, which would be most grammatical?

Question

It's been a while since I've needed to dig that deep into English grammar. I'm not sure which of the below is grammatically correct.

I recommend that you migrate soon.
I recommend migration soon.
I recommend migrating soon.

Personally, I think that alternative 3 is correct. I'm not sure though.

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 11 '15 at 13:02

3

"Soon" is an adverb and needs a verb to modify. This dismissed 2 since 'soon' seems to modify "recommend" instead of the intended "migration", which makes the sentence (a) awkwardly constructed and (b) have unintended meaning.

Both 1 and 3 are fine: "soon" modifies verb "migrate" in 1 and gerund "migrating" in 3.

answered Sep 11 '15 at 13:02

Victor Bazarov

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+1 Another alternative is "I recommend you to migrate soon". – StoneyB on hiatus Sep 11 '15 at 13:03
@StoneyB , Victor, Hold on a mo. It's perfectly natural to use soon to postmodify a noun! There's nothing wrong with (2) here. We don't want to bend the real language to make it fit our idea of the grammar .... :( – Araucaria - Not here any more. Sep 11 '15 at 15:43
@StoneyB, Victor Here's an example from Payne, Huddleston & Pullum "Earlham College’s modern equestrian center will become even more impressive with [the addition soon of an indoor riding and show arena]" – Araucaria - Not here any more. Sep 11 '15 at 15:47
Thanks for this example. I'd like to point out, however, that "perfectly natural" is in the eye of the beholder. "The addition soon of an indoor..." does not sound natural to me. And "migration soon" is even less so. Of course, I'm not a native English speaker... – Victor Bazarov Sep 11 '15 at 15:49
"A migration soon would be infinitely preferable to a migration later on". – Araucaria - Not here any more. Sep 11 '15 at 15:56
The use of adverbs to postmodify nouns and NPs has only recently been noted and studied in any depth in English. However, the use of soon has long been noted as an exception which has tempted people to consider reanalysing it as an adjective there. Here's the very interesting paper that I immediately went to to find an exampel! – Araucaria - Not here any more. Sep 11 '15 at 16:00
@VictorBazarov Your point about natural is true to an extent, but this is what native speakers have been doing for years. It's also true that unnatural is in the eye of the beholder too! :-) – Araucaria - Not here any more. Sep 11 '15 at 16:02
@StoneyB Unless there's a Westpondian difference here, is there? – Araucaria - Not here any more. Sep 11 '15 at 16:04
@Araucaria Fersher. The locus classicus is "Jam yesterday, jam tomorrow, but never jam today." But I agree with Victor that soon "looks for" a prior verb to attach to, and is drawn strongly to recommend in this very brief sentence. This would not be the case with "Migration, soon, is what I recommend". I observe, too, that postmodifiers of nominals tend to have predicative rather than attributive force, and predicative adverbs are iffy: we're generally happier with PP -- "I recommend migration as soon as possible" falls a lot easier on my ear. – StoneyB on hiatus Sep 11 '15 at 16:15
@StoneyB The square no-friender teachers here who haven't gone to the pub with their colleagues, all reckon that (2)'s fine (after they worked out what migration referred to). So there may well be a pondian thing. They want to know what you think of I recommend an operation soon? But, in light of this Eastpondian quirk, I'm not sure describing (2) as "wrong" or ungrammatical's a good idea ... ;) – Araucaria - Not here any more. Sep 11 '15 at 16:21
@StoneyB Though we all agree that "I'm recommending migration soon" could have unintended ambiguity. – Araucaria - Not here any more. Sep 11 '15 at 16:22
@Araucaria But Victor very carefully does not describe 2 as either wrong or ungrammatical. ... I'd be a lot happier if it were written with a comma between migration (or operation) and soon ; that, to my ear, reflects the 'natural' way of speaking this. – StoneyB on hiatus Sep 11 '15 at 16:22
Mmm... Brownie points... ;-) – Victor Bazarov Sep 11 '15 at 16:24
@StoneyB Hmm. I don't agree. I think the post says that thought it doesn't use those words exactly. This is 'cuz it says "needs a verb". If it said usually modifies a verb phrase, that would be a little different. But it's till kinda problematic, it seems to me, because it seems perfectly fine to us Eastpondians. The pragmatics seem to rule out any ambiguity. Harumph. – Araucaria - Not here any more. Sep 11 '15 at 16:27
@VictorBazarov You've already got enough brownie points! – Araucaria - Not here any more. Sep 11 '15 at 16:29
I'm not good on commas. In other words if you speak to me about commas your likely to get the same kinda look that Pete McCarthy got when he tried to score some hashish from a Hasidic Jewish guy in an East London pub when under the mistaken belief that he was a Rastafarian. – Araucaria - Not here any more. Sep 11 '15 at 16:37
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@Araucaria Pshaw. You're perfectly sound on commas. -- Hash for the brownies? Ya gotta look at the hat. – StoneyB on hiatus Sep 11 '15 at 16:49
@StoneyB Only in RC's! – Araucaria - Not here any more. Sep 11 '15 at 16:50
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@Araucaria Well, John Lawler would prolly say a postposited modifier is a reduced RC. – StoneyB on hiatus Sep 11 '15 at 16:52

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 11 '15 at 14:20

0

Another option to correct #2 is

I recommend a prompt migration.

answered Sep 11 '15 at 14:20

Aaron Brown

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"{migration/migrating/that you migrate} soon" -- Regarding the adverb, which would be most grammatical?

2 Answers2