Language/English/Grammar/Ask

Ask

 

1.  Ask and ask for

Ask for: ask somebody to give something

Ask without for: ask somebody to tell something 

Compare:

- Don't ask me for money, (not don't ask money.)

Don’t ask me my name. (More common than don't ask me for my name.)

- Ask for the menu.

Ask the price. 

"Ask" is sometimes used without for when talking about asking for sums of money, especially in connection with buying, selling and renting. 

Examples:

They’re asking ￡700 a month including tax.

‘How much is the car?’ ‘I’m asking sixteen hundred.’  

Note also the expressions "ask a lot of somebody", "ask too much of somebody", "ask a favour of somebody" and "ask (for) permission".

 

 

2. Infinitive structures

We can use infinitive structures after ask. 

Examples:

ask + infinitive

I asked to go home. (= I asked permission to go home.)

ask + object + infinitive

I asked John to go home. (= I told Jack I would like him to go home.)

ask + for + object + infinitive

I asked for the children to have extra milk.

I asked for the package to be sent to my home address. 

Note the difference between these two sentences:

I asked Jack to go home. (I wanted Jack to go home.)

I asked Jack if I could go home. (I wanted to go home myself.)