Learn English – “first I go buy” or “first I go to buy”

grammarword-choice

I'm writing a "how I make a salad" list for school and I want to say:

"First I go buy the ingredients…."

but I don't know if I should write;

"First I go to buy the ingredients….."

Notice the difference between them as the preposition "to" is written before "buy" on the latter. Well I have my doubts because normally I would say "I go buy" not "I go to buy" as in "I've gotta go buy something" but I have to be formal and grammatical since it's for school not for a friend so I need your advice on this.

Best Answer

The first is not grammatically correct; "go [verb]" is short for "go to [verb]" or "go and [verb]." The second, while there's a typo (which is obviously accidental since you spelled it right the first time), is grammatically correct. However, I would not recommend it for several reasons:

  • It's in first person; you are writing an essay about how you make a salad, I would write it in the imperative mood (simply "First, buy the ingredients").
  • The phrase "go to [verb]" is colloquial. This may be fine, depending upon the assignment, but if your teacher cares about that kind of thing then you might want to avoid it.
  • You don't really need "go to" at all, unless you want to emphasize that you are going somewhere in order to buy the ingredients. "First, I buy the ingredients" might be preferable.

Ultimately, you may want to ask your teacher as the best way to do this depends upon what your teacher wants.

Related Topic