Thread: I've just got all these bulldozers and things to lie in front of...

That is, from sense viewpoint, is it possible to say 'I've got all these bulldozers that I'm obliged to lie in front of' instead?

Originally Posted by oldboy

That is, from sense viewpoint, is it possible to say 'I've got all these bulldozers that I'm obliged to lie in front of' instead?

Exactly right, oldboy. "I've got all these bulldozers that I'm obliged to lie in front of" sounds very slightly un-natural from an aesthetic point-of-view, but from a sense/meaning point-of-view, it signifies exactly the same thing as "I've got all these bulldozers to lie in front of" -- namely, that there is an obligation related to the bulldozers (and not to the act of lying down), as bitpicker explained perfectly.

ЗЫ: The only problem with "that I'm obliged to lie in front of" is that I'm obliged sounds a little bit too formal and "Latinate" for the context. (Considering that Arthur Dent had just woken up, was still in his bathrobe, and hadn't shaved or showered yet.)

But "I've got all these bulldozers that I've got to lie in front of" sounds appropriately colloquial. As I said above, the problem with obliged is purely an "aesthetic" one, and has nothing to do with grammatical or logical or lexical correctness.