Ask
Askis a verbmeaning ‘put a question or seek an answer from someone’:
Can Iaskyou a question?
Heaskedme what age I was.
‘How are you?’ sheasked.
Ask+to-infinitive
We can useaskwith theto-infinitive to talk about requesting something:
Sheasked to seeProfessor Fenton.(ask +to-infinitive)
Weaskedthe City Councilto helpus organise a sports day.(ask + object +to-infinitive).
Ask for
If youask forsomething, it means that you want someone to give you something:
I alwaysask forextra tomato sauce on my pizza.
Theyaskedtheir bossformore money, but he refused.
Don’t confuseask foranddemand. Demandmeans ‘ask for something forcefully’, in a way that shows we are not expecting a refusal:
We are writing toask foryour help in finding suitable accommodation in New Haven.
Not:We are writing to demand…
Askandask for: typical error
We useforwhen we request someone to give us something:
I called them toask formore details.
Not:I called them to ask more details.