How do I understand the syntax of “He puts to good use things other people have thrown away”?
He puts to good use things other people have thrown away.
I have only seen “put something to good use”，but I haven’t ever seen this pattern that is used here, which is more complicated.
Is “he put to good use” the adj. of “things”？Does it mean “the things that he puts good use to”？
In a comment John Lawler wrote:
This is a construction (rule, transformation, alternation) that moves long, heavy constituents (like the noun phrase things other people have thrown away) to the end of the sentence, where it is easier to process. This is useful when, as here, the verb consists of an idiomatic construction put to good use with a special meaning. Getting the heavy NP out of the way allows the idiom to be clear.
he puts to good use things other people have thrown away.
This means that he makes good use of things others have thrown away. A comendable quality indeed.
It uses the word Put which can mean several things. The first two in The Free Dictionary are
- To place in a specified location; set: "She put the books on the table."
- To cause to be in a specified condition: "His gracious manners put me at ease."
Puts is a bit harder to see but is used much the same. The third-person singular simple present indicative form of put is puts.;wordhippo.
"He puts to good use things that..." It might also be "He puts things to good use that others might have thrown away."