For members of the seventeenth-century

[CHUNJ236]

Hi Ron,

I just went through this post and found it very helpful. By the way, I have two ideas to talk about. Hope you can kindly correct me if I am wrong.

First of all, I noticed that "Essential" is a modifier. So if you eliminate it, you can get the sentence " shields with wooden frames are items to protect warriors" . As you explained, I think that shields can not automatically be items to protect warriors unless they are used by people in Africa. You can not say A TOOL IS A PURPOSE. That's why it is NONSENSE to me.

Besides, I got stuck to a problem which occurred to me by Hemant.

"....shields with wooden frames are essential items of military equipment to protect warriors...."
Viewing from a step higher, "...essential.....to protect warriors...."
-Why/for what purpose is it essential?
-To protect the warriors

We know it is correct to say "The problem is difficult to solve" However, here it is still awkward to say " the wooden frames are essential to protect warriors". But we can say "the wooden frames are essential in protecting warrior." OR "It is essential to use the wooden frames to protect warriors."

So my question is : What is the difference between "to protect warriors" and "to solve"? Both of them seem "TO DO" to me.

Hope I clarify my meaning.

Thanks，
One of your fans

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

First of all, I noticed that "Essential" is a modifier. So if you eliminate it, you can get the sentence " shields with wooden frames are items to protect warriors" . As you explained, I think that shields can not automatically be items to protect warriors unless they are used by people in Africa. You can not say A TOOL IS A PURPOSE. That's why it is NONSENSE to me.

I agree with you here. The wrong idiom is 'items to ...'. However, we don't have to say who's using a tool to make a sentence logical, so long as we use the correct idiom 'for -ing'. This sentence is fine: 'A saw is a tool for cutting wood.'

"....shields with wooden frames are essential items of military equipment to protect warriors...."
Viewing from a step higher, "...essential.....to protect warriors...."

I disagree with this analysis. As per your comment above, it's not correct to say "items....to protect". Perhaps you're confusing this with a situation in which we didn't have a noun. For example, this is correct: "Doing exercise is essential (in order) to stay healthy."