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lead to

English translation: lead to

04:53 Aug 14, 2013
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Linguistics / Prep Book
English term or phrase: lead to
Could you explain me the difference between 'led to' and 'brought about'?
The following is multiple-choice question which a cram school gives prep students.

The popularity of the telephone has（　　　　）fewer people writing letters.
1.led to　 2.brought about　 3.come to　 4.taken to

The answer is 1.
But I think 2 is also a possible answer.

Thank you very much.
Mami Yamaguchi
Japan
Local time: 03:27
Selected answer:lead to
Explanation:
1 is right, the others are clearly wrong.
2 doesn't work, because 'to bring about' requires a direct object, and as the sentence stands, that would be 'fewer people' — even if you consider 'fewer people writing letters' as a nominal group, it is nonsensical to say 'bring about fewer people'.

If you wanted to use 'bring about', you might say "...has brought about fewer people's writing letters"; there, the direct object becomes 'writing', and is merely qualified by the possessive "fewer people's"; however, this use of possessive + gerund is falling into disuse these days, and often sound dated and/or pretentious; besides, in this aprticualr instance, it would produce an awkward sentence.
The best way to use 'to bring about' would be something like Terry suggests: "...has brought about a reduction in letter-writing".

Asside from the syntax, you have to look at it from a lexical point of view too, and ask yourself what nouns are plausible objects for 'to bring about' — whether fewer or more, one can't really talk about 'bringing about people'
Selected response from:

Tony M
France
Local time: 20:27
Grading comment
Thank you very much for your answer. The students select your convincing explanation.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +7usage
Terry Richards
4 +3lead to
Tony M
3lead to
Lydia Molea
3lead to v brought about
SafeTex


Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


6 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
lead to


Explanation:
I do not have any grammer rules to substantiate this, but I believe it's "bring about" + noun. It just sounds wrong with the gerund, even when used as a noun.

Lydia Molea
Germany
Local time: 20:27
Works in field
Native speaker of: German
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you very much for your prompt answer. I believe 'kead to' is the best choice though, There are several prep students who selected '2'. I must explain the difference, but I can't explain it...

Asker: Sorry , I made a typo, 'kead to'→’led to(lead to)'.

Asker: I know 'bring about’ ＋nown'. Maybe, 'fewer people writing letters' is a nominal phrase.

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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +7
usage


Explanation:
"bring/brought about" is normally followed by "a/an" or "the". Immoral behaviour will bring about the apocalypse. The popularity of the telephone has bought about a reduction in letter writing.

Without it, it sounds clumsy. I don't know of any strict rule against using it on its own but no native speaker would do that. So, I would say that answer 1 is the best choice, 2 would be understood but would mark you as a non-native speaker and 3 & 4 are wrong.

Terry Richards
France
Local time: 20:27
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 12
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you for your clear explanation.

Asker: Thank you very much for your strong opinion.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jack Doughty
27 mins
agree  Yvonne Gallagher
1 hr
agree  Max Deryagin
2 hrs
agree  Tina Vonhof (X)
7 hrs
agree  Lisa Russell
12 hrs
agree  Phong Le
18 hrs
agree  Jim Tucker (X): yes that's a good summary of 1-4
1 day 10 hrs
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
lead to


Explanation:
1 is right, the others are clearly wrong.
2 doesn't work, because 'to bring about' requires a direct object, and as the sentence stands, that would be 'fewer people' — even if you consider 'fewer people writing letters' as a nominal group, it is nonsensical to say 'bring about fewer people'.

If you wanted to use 'bring about', you might say "...has brought about fewer people's writing letters"; there, the direct object becomes 'writing', and is merely qualified by the possessive "fewer people's"; however, this use of possessive + gerund is falling into disuse these days, and often sound dated and/or pretentious; besides, in this aprticualr instance, it would produce an awkward sentence.
The best way to use 'to bring about' would be something like Terry suggests: "...has brought about a reduction in letter-writing".

Asside from the syntax, you have to look at it from a lexical point of view too, and ask yourself what nouns are plausible objects for 'to bring about' — whether fewer or more, one can't really talk about 'bringing about people'

Tony M
France
Local time: 20:27
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 156
Grading comment
Thank you very much for your answer. The students select your convincing explanation.
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you so much. Now they seem satisfied with your explanation- 'one can't really talk about 'bringing about people'.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jean-Claude Gouin
5 hrs
  -> Merci, J-C ! :-)
agree  Lisa Russell
11 hrs
  -> Thanks, Lisa!
agree  Jim Tucker (X): Agree -- though the danger wouldn't actually be "brought about people." The problem is rather the distinction between a gerund and a pure noun.
1 day 10 hrs
  -> Thanks, Jim! I'm not sure the distinction betwene 'gerund' and 'pure noun' is really helpful here; it's really just a matter of what objects are usable or not with the verb 'to bring about'.
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1 day 5 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
lead to v brought about


Explanation:
Hello

The two expressions are indeed very similar.

For me, 'lead to' is for a more direct result. It is like 'a' caused 'b'

'Brought about' is not as direct (vaguer) and it also changes the focus.

'b' was caused by 'a'

To give you an example, for a famine, I would say that

'the famine led to the death of millions of people' (clear cause and effect)

For a politician losing an election, I'd probably say

'His defeat was brought about by a number of things (vaguer)

SafeTex
France
Local time: 20:27
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you so much for your answer! very helpful!

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