Purpose clauses

Adverbial complement clauses are clauses that function as units within another clause (see previous post of 18 May). They modify the verb in the main clause. One type of adverbial complement clause functions to express the purpose of an action. In Standard English this is expressed with the infinitive of the verb in the complement clause:

– Mary went to town to get groceries.

The adverbial complement clause [to get groceries] explains why Mary went to town, so it states the purpose of the action in the main clause. In Shaetlan the purpose clause is expressed slightly differently, with a for to-construction:

– Mary geed ti' da toon fir tae git da airrants. (‘Mary went to town to get groceries.’)

In Shaetlan the adverbial complement clause [fir tae git da airrants] states the purpose of the action of the main clause. To have a for to-construction for purpose clauses is very common among non-standard English and Scots varieties across the world. It is neither new nor slang nor sloppy speech, and is attested in English since 1127. You'll also find it in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and the 1535 Bible, for example. It is a neat grammatical way to flag up a clause that states the purpose of an action. To “correct” it would be misguided.