Language changes, as everything does. Doubly important, then, that these members have their club. “This is a full-time job for me, but I don’t mind,” Mr. Allen said. “I see these people get satisfaction, a place where to go and where to meet. They sit down and talk to each other.”
I have read a lot of pieces on The New York Times where, as in the quote above, the phrase “a place where” is followed by/from an infinitive. So I presume this structure is “idiomatic” English. Nevertheless, I’m under the impression that it is better to use “can” in these case. So, in reference to the above piece, we could say:
Language changes, as everything does. Doubly important, then, that these members have their club. “This is a full-time job for me, but I don’t mind,” Mr. Allen said. “I see these people get satisfaction, a place where they can go and where they can meet. They sit down and talk to each other.”
Can anybody explain what the difference is between these constructions?
Best Answer
I think that we may be missing some context. It appears that this is a direct quote from a newspaper article or similar. The person being quoted (as pointed out by @StoneyB) may not be a native English speaker, which may explain the unusual syntax.
If I were to rewrite the sentence for maximum clarity, I would write, "I see these people get satisfaction, a place to go and to meet. They sit down and talk to each other.”