I am referring to this question:
"Contributed to", "contributed for", or "start to"
The reason for closing the question is listed as:
Proofreading questions are off-topic unless a specific source of concern in the text is clearly identified. (emphasis added)
However, in this case, I think the O.P. did provide a specific source of concern. The question is written as:
Is my word usage right?
I just want to know if this sentence is right:
It contributed to the decision of start respecting people.
If it's not, how can I fix it? I've no idea if I should use contributed for or start to instead.
Thanks a lot!
I'm going to rephrase the question as I read it. I'm going to remove a few things that raise our collective proofreading flags, but I think this question is essentially asking the same thing:
Question about two prepositions in a sentence
I've written this sentence, but it doesn't sound quite right to me:
It contributed to the decision of start respecting people.
I'm having trouble with the preposition after contributed – should it be contributed for instead of contributed to? Also, I wonder if there should be a preposition (perhaps to) after the word start.
I think that's essentially what this question is asking.
I think the question should be opened, but I didn't want to open it unilaterally as a moderator.
I also wanted to see if the community agrees that this may be a case of "hasty closure." We see phrases like "Is this right?" and "How can I fix it?" and immediately click the "Close for proofreading" button, rather than examining the question more closely, and recognizing that a source of confusion has been identified.