Hi, Mark!  Awhile ago you wrote in a message to Alexander Koryagin:

 AK>  I always thought that every word means something. ;-)


           Ideally, yes... but I understand George Bernard Shaw apologized for
writing a long letter on some occasion when (as he put it) he didn't have time
to write a shorter one.  I can also see that if we're talking about having the
Browns for dinner we may need to make it clear we don't plan to eat them.  :-)



 AK>  Probably I could also say "invite her up for tea" or
 AK>  "invite her down for tea" or "invite her in for tea" ;=)

 ml>  this is true... english is a ""bit"" more verbose
 ml>  than other languages...


           Depends on what other languages one is comparing it to, I think.  I
gather you speak at least one or two I don't.  As a Canadian, OTOH, I see many
things written in both English & French where the French version occupies more
bandwidth because the words are often longer & there are more of them....  ;-)



 ml>  the additional word, in this case, clarifies things a
 ml>  little more than the bare phrase... you could clarify
 ml>  even more by saying

 ml>  invite her for tea on sunday.
 ml>  invite her over to the club for tea.
 ml>  invite her to the club for tea on sunday.

 ml>  or similar... the additions just clarify more in most
 ml>  cases that i can think of...


           Yes, I can see inviting a person up or down if they live on another
floor of the same building or someone has to climb a hill.  I can also see how
if the club is like a second home to someone they might say "over to the club"
... which in most such cases I know is not very far away from where they live.
And if a friend appeared unexpectedly at my door, I might invite them to "come
(on) in".  While some of the adverbs in the above examples may not be strictly
necessary they add clues about the geography &/or the level of formality.  :-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)