15:49 Jun 12, 2011 

Sheila and Barbara; the sentence definitely needed splitting, which I did

05:39 Jun 4, 2011 

Barbara has a point: there is a natural tendency for people to answer the actual question asked — even if this is not actually what Asker needs to know! So I don't think one ought to extrapolate from that into making assumptions about what people do or don't think / know / understand.

00:42 Jun 4, 2011 

I did not say that "everyone" did not notice, but only that there were native speakers that apparently didn't notice (the clear evidence in this regard being the seven agrees culled by Noni's suggestion).

20:49 Jun 3, 2011 

It might be incorrect to assume that people didn't notice. It is also possible that some people, though willing to help with the basic question posed, draw certain lines when it comes to how much help they offer non-native speakers trying to translate into English.

19:24 Jun 3, 2011 

Since it appears that even experienced language professionals who are native speakers of English did not notice the faulty premise of the query, I would vote for this question to be considered "Pro."

However, I am in general agreement that most questions posted to the "English-English" forum by non-native speakers can be clarified by a moderately competent high-school student, and should therefore be considered "non-Pro"....

16:31 Jun 3, 2011 

...if it were to be written thus, it would be a whole different story, of course:

"The Ministry has taken some admittedly unpopular measures, with a view to boosting foreign investment"

16:26 Jun 3, 2011 

Generally, I'd agree with Robert's analysis, and I'd go further to say that the expression required here actually depends on the exact context in which this occurs, and in particular, the tenor of the remarks.

Is this document totally neutral in tone — or is it perhaps criticizing the Ministry for not doing enough?

Robert's suggestion of "If..., it must / needs to / will need to / is going to have to..." takes it one way; but there are other ways of phrasing it that could make it more or less judgemental. Is it casting doubt on the seriousness of the Minstry's intentions? All these factors could well influence the choice of expression.

And as BDF has said here, since the sentence is already long and unwieldy, it would be better to avoid padding it unnecessarily, and the suggestion of splitting the sentence up is certainly worth considering.

Either way, I am in agreement with the majority here that 'with a view to' really isn't the right expression to use. try turning the sentence round:

"The Ministry is going to have to take certain tough steps if it wants to promote investment" — turned round that way, it's easy to see that "with a view to" wouldn't really fit.

16:13 Jun 3, 2011 

Yes, agree Sterk!

15:56 Jun 3, 2011 

but we could do without making a glossary entry this time, couldn't we?

15:25 Jun 3, 2011 

No doubt you have spotted your "slip of the finger", Sterk: it should be *beginning* - I'm sure you'll correct it if you are making a glossary entry.

14:40 Jun 3, 2011 

I don't know why you are intent upon using "with a view to", or any similar padding in a sentence that is clearly too long. There are a number of ways you could make it shorter and punchier.

12:12 Jun 3, 2011 

It certainly sounds as though it will be too long. Have you thought of splitting it? A second sentence could begin "This can be achieved by ..." or you could list a couple and then in a 2nd sentence say "Other possibilities are ..." (or something like that).