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omitting preposition

Hello everybody,
in the sentence "We should go pay the doctor a visit" is preposition "for" omitted? Is it an usual form?

Thanks!!!

Re: omitting preposition

'go pay (someone) a visit' is how detectives and gangsters talk in crime novels. It means to go and talk to someone about a matter. This might be to ask questions, and/or to give them a warning by threatening them in some way; or just to beat them up.

Similarly, police might 'go pay (someone) a visit', meaning, go to ask a witness, or a criminal, questions about a crime.

It is not to do with paying the doctor FOR his services.

Re: omitting preposition

Thanks!!!
So, 'go pay (someone) a visit' is not a particular grammar structure.
Isn't it?


Gervais
'go pay (someone) a visit' is how detectives and gangsters talk in crime novels. It means to go and talk to someone about a matter. This might be to ask questions, and/or to give them a warning by threatening them in some way; or just to beat them up.

Similarly, police might 'go pay (someone) a visit', meaning, go to ask a witness, or a criminal, questions about a crime.

It is not to do with paying the doctor FOR his services.

Re: omitting preposition

You might call it an idiom.

I should add that, though it started out the way I said, today its meaning has 'softened', so in your sentence, it is just an informal way of saying "I think you should talk to/see/consult a doctor (about that cough)"

Re: omitting preposition

We should go pay the doctor a visit.

I'd say that this has nothing to do with paying money to the doctor for a visit; rather, it is just a typical way in AmE of saying "We should go and pay the doctor a visit", where the coordinator "and" has been omitted in typical AmE style!




PaulM

Re: omitting preposition

Paul Matthews
We should go pay the doctor a visit.

I'd say that this has nothing to do with paying money to the doctor for a visit; rather, it is just a typical way in AmE of saying "We should go and pay the doctor a visit", where the coordinator "and" has been omitted in typical AmE style!




PaulM


Pardon me Pual,
"AmE" is acronym of ....

thanks!!!

Re: omitting preposition

AmE stands for American English. We also use BrE for British English.

In your example, it's the coordinator "and" which is typically omitted in AmE, but included in BrE:

We should go pay the doctor a visit. (AmE)
We should go and pay the doctor a visit. (BrE)

There are also certain other expressions where a preposition is omitted in AmE but not in BrE, for example:

He jumped out the window. (AmE)
He jumped out of the window. (BrE)


See what I mean?

PaulM