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I wrote:

We implemented the proposed system as a visual tool. It is a Windows application using an embedded web browser to render the web page to provide the user with the visual identification of the page elements.

Here, I used the pattern "use A .... to do X"; however, I used two "to do", is it a correct usage of this pattern? I mean if I can add extra "to do" as complements of "use" or not? (My question is not about repeating of "to", I don't care it here)

Ahmad
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    Possible duplicate of Rules for repeating "to" Related: Same word used multiple times in a sentence – FumbleFingers Sep 19 '15 at 17:27
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    @FumbleFingers: I believe the first is not a dupe; it's about repeating words in a list. – Nathan Tuggy Sep 19 '15 at 17:54
  • @FumbleFingers That is about repeating "to", however it is not my question, my question is if I can add extra "to do" or not. – Ahmad Sep 19 '15 at 18:04
  • @FumbleFingers I updated my question to say my actual concern. – Ahmad Sep 19 '15 at 18:07
  • @Ahmad: Your original question text didn't make it absolutely clear. It now seem what you're asking about is my second ("related") link, which asks about the validity of forms like I will go to* New York to meet my friend. I know you'll say that's different again, because only the second to* is part of an infinitive verb form. But I also know there's a more specific duplicate somewhere here on ELL (I just can't find it because searching the site for the word *to* is a waste of time, and I can't think of any better search terms! ;( – FumbleFingers Sep 19 '15 at 18:24
  • @FumbleFingers Sorry! After all, I just didn't get my sentence is OK or not? – Ahmad Sep 19 '15 at 18:46
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    @Ahmad: Grammatically, you can certainly ask questions on ELL *to improve your English to get a better job to make something of your life, for example. It might become a bit clumsy, so you could often replace one or more instances of to* by *and*, but that's a matter of style, not syntactic correctness. – FumbleFingers Sep 21 '15 at 12:10

2 Answers2

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Your sentence is perfectly acceptable as is. However, the repeated use of "do A to do B to do C" quickly develops a singsong cadence which can be distracting. I'd suggest something like "...using an embedded web browser to render the web page in order to provide the user...".

WhatRoughBeast
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. . . using an embedded web browser to render the web page to provide the user with the visual identification of the page elements.

What you have actually said is that

  1. the browser is used in order to render the web page
  2. the web page is rendered in order to provide the user visual identification of the page elements

That is, there is a chain of purposes: A accomplishes B and B accomplishes C. Syntactically, the render infinitival is dependent on the using clause and the provide infinitival is dependent on the render clause:

...
[ using an embedded web browser
    [ to render the web page
        [ to provide the user &c ]
    ]
]

However, if what you want to say is that the browser is used for two distinct purposes—if rendering the page and providing the identification are both directly effected by using the browser—then you want a different syntax, one in which both clauses are dependent on the using clause. The simplest solution is to 'conjoin' the two infinitivals:

[ using an embedded web browser
    [ to [ render the web page]
          and
          [ provide the user &c]
    ]

In this particular case I suspect that it makes little difference; but in other circumstances it may be important to distinguish between an action's direct and indirect effects.

StoneyB on hiatus
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  • Take I need to* earn some money to pay off my debts to avoid being declared bankrupt, for example. If the second and/or third to* were replaced by *and*, I kinda doubt anyone would perceive this as affecting the meaning of the statement. I think it's a stylistic choice rather than a matter of semantics in most contexts. – FumbleFingers Sep 21 '15 at 12:17