Meaning
to give support, confidence, or hope to someone so that they will act on a particular activity.
Primary Function
promotes action through encouragement
Communicative Purpose
motivate, inspire, or urge another person toward behavior change.
Pattern
encourage; to
Core Structure
encourage; to
Função primária
promotes action through encouragement
Propósito comunicativo
motivate, inspire, or urge another person toward behavior change.
Situações de gatilho
in mentoring relationships, during parenting advice, when giving health or fitness recommendations.
Contextos
professional (workplace), personal (family/social interactions), educational settings.
Padrão
encourage; to
Estrutura central
encourage; to
Slots de substituição
someone to [verb]
Colocados típicos
- actively
- strongly
- always
- try to
- be encouraged to
Substituições comuns
- urge someone to
- motivate someone to
- inspire someone to
Erros comuns
using the passive construction *‘that someone does’ or omitting ‘to’, leading to ambiguous meaning.
Similar / contraste
urge to, motivate to, inspire to, persuade to
Interferências
Learners from languages where a preposition is required before the infinitive may mistakenly insert one (e.g., French ‘encourager qn à …’) and thus misuse the structure.
Família do chunk
- urge to
- motivate to
- inspire to
- push to
Nuance
'Encourage to' signals supportive endorsement; 'urge to' implies stronger insistence on compliance.
Efeito pragmático
creates an empowering, warm atmosphere that encourages risk‑taking or persistence.
Dica de memória
I encourage you to apply.
Nota
This chunk is semi-fixed but highly formulaic in its core structure, requiring precise use of the infinitive marker 'to' after the direct object.
Upgrade path
use ‘exhort someone to’ in formal speeches
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