Can we use the verb ‘inform’ this way? I’ve picked it from an official notification.
Inform your friends to be vigilant.
It doesn’t sound right to me.
Dozy,
How it should be then?
Please rephrase it. Thanks.
I’m not Dozy, but here’s my two cents:
- Tell your friends to be vigilant
- Inform your friends that they need to be vigilant.
I agree with OTS. You could also say “should” or “must” instead of “need to”.
No problem using the verb inform in that way, but that;s a bad example. Urge, caution or warn would fit that sentence better,
Inform is passing information, not telling someone what to do. For instance:
“Inform your friends that several merchants have taken in counterfeit $20 bills.”
They will figure out for themselves that they need to be vigilant.
Could you give an example that you think works? I can’t think of any case where it would be OK to use the verb inform that way – not to my ears anyway. (I’m assuming “this way” refers to the “inform someone to do something” pattern.)
Inform your neighbors that Cozy Lane will be closed for repaving this July.
If you don’t let me copy your arithmetic homework, I’ll inform Miss Smith that you have marijuana gum in your locket.
I informed Bill that his wife had been in earlier, getting the dry cleaning.
The waitress informed me that tonight’s special was pulled pig on a hoagie roll, with french fries and large Pepsi for $6.50.
Inform Bill that his wife called, and that the cream has gone bad, so if he doesn’t want his coffee black, he should stop at the Turkey Hill Minit Market on his way home.
To inform someone is to give them information. You can advise them to do something or order them to do something, or suggest they do something, but if all you’re doing is informing them, you are not ordering them around.
None of those are examples of the “inform someone to do something” pattern.
The post has triggered a good debate. In my view, the problem of collocational defect would not have arisen, if the verb had been Ask/Tell/Advise. Otherwise the sentence, with the same verb, needs to be slightly modified:
Inform your friends of the need to be (for being) vigilant.