 Re: Our customer demanded we / asked us to
Just one of those things. Some verbs take an infinitive, some take a "that" clause, some take a gerund, some can take more than one construction ... and some of those which take the infinitive can take an indirect object whilst others can't. There's no particular reason for it as far as I know.
So ask can take an infinitive or, if the subject of the infinitive is different from that of the verb an indirect object and infinitive - They asked to go or They asked us to go. Demand on the other hand can take the infinitive but not the indirect object - it just has to use a that clause instead : They demanded to go but They demanded that we should go.
It's a minefield for students just because it's so random. And it's a particular problem for Ss whose L1 uses a construction for a verb which English doesn't. Italians for instance will say We suggested to go or They suggested us to go because that's how it is in Italian. |