Escriba a su congresista.

Sentence Discussions Spanish
#1

Write to your congressman.

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#2
English Translation

Write your congressman.

You can just say “write your congressman” in english, that’s fine

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#3

No. Now don’t ask me why but in English the preposition ‘to’ is only dropped when there’s a direct object following the person addressed, so ‘Write the congressman a letter’ is ok but it is included when the object precedes the person or is omitted altogether, so ‘Write a letter to the congressman’ or ‘Write to the congressman’.

#4

I disagree, this isn’t the case in English, this is just a rule you’re making up. “Write” can be used as a transitive verb. Searching “write your congressman” on Google yields plenty of examples. See:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/2744753

There’s even an organization called National Write Your Congressman

National Write Your Congressman (NWYC) | Library of Congress.

#5

No you’re wrong. I’ve tried to politely explain the use of prepositions with ‘to write’ but if you’re going to be rude and accuse people of making things up I shan’t bother anymore and you’ll just have to educate yourself on Dative Alternation instead (Dative shift - Wikipedia).

Rather I’ll simply point out that we all know how to use Google, that ‘Write To’ has 11,440,000,000 results and that literally the very first one is www.writetothem.com

Followed by:

Write TO 
 the Prime Minister Contact Us

Write TO 
 the European Union Write to us | European Union

Write TO 
 The King. (But what does he know about the Queen’s English?) www.royal.uk/contact

In fact everybody from Bill Gates (Write to Us | Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) to Father Christmas (www.royalmail.com/christmas/letters-to-santa) agrees that it’s ‘Write To’.

Apparently even the French know it. Write to the President | ÉlysĂ©e

So I’ll just leave it there now, though no doubt you’ll accuse them all of “making it up”.

#6

You’re not understanding. I’m saying that either one is acceptable in English. I’m not saying that only “write” is correct. Pointing to examples of “write to” doesn’t contradict my point. Linking to the wikipedia article on dative shift also doesn’t tell us anything about what prepositions are used with this particular verb.

Wiktionary lists either one as acceptable usages of the verb “write”, omitting “to” is apparently more common in the US.

  1. (transitive) To send written information to.

(UK) Please write to me when you get there.

(US) Please write me when you get there.