Hi, Anton!  Recently you wrote in a message to All:   
      
    AS>  I have read recently that "I have the honor to report   
    AS>  that..." is incorrect and that one should say "I have   
    AS>  the honor of reporting that...":   
      
     >>  Official committee reports in English of the Canadian   
     >>  House of Commons all contain the phrase "Your Committee   
     >>  has the honour to present its Xth Report".  That should   
     >>  of course be "the honour of presenting."   
      
      
      
              In my experience, formal speeches often begin with phrases like:   
      
      
                     I have the honour of reporting that [blah blah]   
                     I have the honour of presenting [blah blah]   
      
                                       or   
      
                     It is my honour to report that [blah blah]   
                     I am honoured to present [blah blah]   
      
      
   If the authors of these reports made an error by trying to put two grammatical   
   constructions together, I don't see it as particularly serious... but I wonder   
   who is so sure they're right (or wants us to think they are) that they find it   
   necessary to add "of course" to lend weight to their argument.   
      
              WRT politics it behooves us to be on the alert for slanted writing,   
   and WRT this excerpt I notice that the author hasn't specified what his or her   
   objection is to the wording in the committee reports or why it "should" be xxx   
   rather than yyy.  Perhaps the wording is a departure from tradition & it looks   
   wrong to this individual because it's not what s/he is used to.   
      
      
      
    AS>  But why?  It is the more difficult for me to understand   
    AS>  because in my naytive Russian the infinitive version is   
    AS>  only natural.   
      
      
              In English, the gerund (or what you may call it) is interchangeable   
   with the infinitive in many cases.  "I like skiing" is correct... and so is "I   
   like to ski".  I am happy to say that unless you're making a formal speech you   
   don't necessarily have to copy what other people do although you may find it's   
   instructive to take note of patterns which seem to keep recurring in a variety   
   of situations.  I used one of these patterns when I wrote "I am happy to say".   
   And while I have reservations about what other people say when they feel it is   
   in their best interests to make one political party or another look foolish, I   
   have noticed wording such as "I/we have the [abstract noun] + [infinitive]" in   
   informal conversation... but I also see subtle differences in meaning.  Yes, I   
   have the courage to share my thoughts in the E_T echo when I see that somebody   
   out there wants to learn more about my native language.  No, I do not have the   
   courage to try extreme sports.  The adrenaline rush I get when somebody brings   
   up an interesting point is as much excitement as I'm comfortable with....  :-)   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)