What is the difference from…
“Not everyone is in favor of fast-food restaurants spreading over the globe” and
“Not everyone is in favor of spreading fast-food restaurants over the globe”
?
I had an English exam and I wrote the 2nd one at writing test, but my teacher said it was not correct because the word “spread” is intransitive verb and it must not have the objective case. I really don’t understand what she said. I think “spread” could be transitive verb. So I would like to ask you…
*Do each sentences make sense or understandable?
*Do they have any strict and linguistic grammar mistakes?
*Is my opinion correct?
I would especially like someone who teaches English and know the correct grammar to answer. Please teach me!!
✅ Answers
? Best Answer
In the first form f-f restaurants are seen as a whole, as an almost evil power which can spread itself across the world, generally in the face of horror by people of traditional disposition. That would be the usual form seen in a discussion about changing eating and social habits across the world.
In the second there is more of a personal idea of some people spreading f-f rs across the world, maybe in the context of financial matters. That form looks strange to me, but would be understood.
I did not look at your arguments before answering as above, so as not to cloud my judgment of how I would say such a sentence. Frankly your teacher is worrying too much about structure and not enough about how the English language is actually used by English-speaking people in countries such as Britain and the USA. I hope I am not wrong in thinking that your teacher may not be a native speaker of British or American English.
The verb ‘spread’ can be either transitive or intransitive. You can use it transitively, for example to say that you spread butter on bread.
In your examples, sentence one means the fast-food restaurants would spread out by themselves, so to speak, with no particular person behind it.
The second which could also be correct would mean that the most people would not want to be involved in actively spreading these restaurants out. But both sentences are grammatically correct.
A simpler example would be: intransitive: the water gradually spread over the floor.
Transitive: he spread the butter on the bread