Summary: In the previous post you have learnt that 'I will reply your email' is wrong. In this post, we will further explain why and link the verb 'reply' to a sentence pattern that you have learnt.
A. Reply & Sentence Pattern
If you remember, this is a sentence pattern you have learned at school.
What pattern is it? The pattern of 'SVO'.
Yet, your teacher might have forgotten to tell you one thing. In 'SVO' there is a special relationship between a subject and an object.
By special, I don’t mean they have an affair. What I mean is in the pattern of 'SVO' a subject has some control over the object.
Put simply, in this pattern one thing is bigger. Which one is bigger? A subject is bigger than an object. In other words, If a subject is a master, then an object is like a servant.
And do you want to give the relationship a name? What about MS? MS has nothing to do with any company. It means a Master-servant relationship.
B. Correct Usage: Reply to your email
However, in the case of ‘I will reply your email soon’, the word ‘I’ is not the master of ‘your email’.
What does that mean? ‘I’ is not the one who wrote the email. In other words, 'I' write something, but not the email 'I' received. It is Mr Big, not 'I', who wrote the email.
In other words, Mr Big is the master (subject) of the servant (the email).
So, when using ‘reply’ as a verb, stick to the following rule:
That is, when there is no MS relationship, a preposition is needed. This is why when you use ‘wait’, you have to add a preposition: Wait FOR me, but not ‘Wait me’.
C. Quick Tip
A. Reply & Sentence Pattern
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If you remember, this is a sentence pattern you have learned at school.
What pattern is it? The pattern of 'SVO'.
| Subject | Verb | Object |
| Ms Talk. | made | a speech (at a meeting) |
Yet, your teacher might have forgotten to tell you one thing. In 'SVO' there is a special relationship between a subject and an object.
By special, I don’t mean they have an affair. What I mean is in the pattern of 'SVO' a subject has some control over the object.
And do you want to give the relationship a name? What about MS? MS has nothing to do with any company. It means a Master-servant relationship.
B. Correct Usage: Reply to your email
However, in the case of ‘I will reply your email soon’, the word ‘I’ is not the master of ‘your email’.
What does that mean? ‘I’ is not the one who wrote the email. In other words, 'I' write something, but not the email 'I' received. It is Mr Big, not 'I', who wrote the email.
In other words, Mr Big is the master (subject) of the servant (the email).
So, when using ‘reply’ as a verb, stick to the following rule:
Person
|
Verb
|
+ Preposition
|
Thing
|
I
|
will reply
|
to
|
your email (soon)
|
That is, when there is no MS relationship, a preposition is needed. This is why when you use ‘wait’, you have to add a preposition: Wait FOR me, but not ‘Wait me’.
C. Quick Tip
So, the Feel Good Tip is 'Re + Re'. What does that mean?
reply + to ------------> (reply + preposition)
D: More Examples from Everyday life
'I will write to you.'
or
'I will talk to you'.
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Pic sources
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12394349@N06/4656677533/sizes/m/in/photostream/
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