Forum: ell.stackexchange.com
Tags: <word-usage><word-choice>
Title: Too many to's? 'I am not able to come to office'
Question: Is this sentence correct or not?    I am not able to come to office.   Can we use "to" twice or can we write this sentence in a better way?

Answers:
sents: text: I don't think it's incorrect to use the to come to form (and here
text: you may find several examples).
text: However, you should put a determiner (like the ) before the word office :
text: I can't come to the office.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/28210/mrnld
score: 31
sents: text: It is fine to use several to 's in the same sentence: I want to try to learn to ride a bike.
text: Here we can see three to 's in the same sentence.
text: The Original Poster shouldn't change their example.
text: It's a fine sentence.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/8084/Araucaria - Not here any more.
score: 21
sents: text: The two uses of the word "to" are fine but the sentence as a whole sounds weird to me (as a native British English speaker).
text: In my opinion, there should be a "the" in there after the "to":
text: I am not able to come to the office.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/25212/Peter Green
score: 7
sents: text: This can be taken as an extended comment on Araucaria's succinct (and entirely correct) answer.
text: Technically, you're not using the single word 'to' twice; the first instance of 'to' is inexorably wrapped up with the word 'come', as the two words together form the infinitive form of the verb 'to come'.
text: The second instance of 'to' is indicative of direction, placed immediately before a destination (in this case, the office).
text: They have entirely distinct meanings in the sentence.
text: In other words, these instances of 'to' are homophonous , but not synonymous .
text: English has many homophones (such as 'mean' or 'bat'), but 'to' is one of the most commonly used, and commonly confused.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/29470/S. G.
score: 4
sents: text: The use of "to come" is the infinitive form of "come", in English.
text: It's also commonly called a helping verb .
text: The second "to" is the preposition of the prepositional phrase, "to office".
text: As it stands, your sentence does make sense, and would not sound or look strange.
text: That being said, I would recommend adding the article adjective "the" between, "to" and "office".
text: The resulting sentence would be: "I am not able to come to the office".
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/29513/FuriousFolder
score: 3
sents: text: the sentence
text: "i am not able to come to office" is correct.
text: because here both "to" have their own meaning first one for infinitives and second one for preposition and alternative for the same could be
text: "i am unable to reach the office"
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/28891/Greesh Kumar
score: 2
sents: text: Although the word "to" is used twice in one sentence, it is used in two different ways.
text: The first use is as an "infinitive."
text: Specifically, "to come.
text: " Many other languages have infinitives, but they often have a suffix to the verb, as opposed to a separate word.
text: The second use is as a directional preposition, to, in the sense of "toward" or "into.
text: It's a confusing point in the English language, but you're not really using the same word twice.
text: More like two "similar"-looking words in two different ways.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/1355/Tom Au
score: 1
sents: text: It's correct.
text: Here in the US replacing the second to with into is also acceptable in conversation.
text: "I am not able to come into the office." or
text: "I am not able to come in today" If you're speaking to someone you work with, it's implied you're talking about the office.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/29516/Tim
score: 0

Summary of the answers:
This is correct and it is fine to use "to" several times in the same sentence. For example:  I want to try to learn to ride a bike.
The sentence is correct, using several to's in a sentence is fine.