expressions - Is the construction "It allows to ..." proper English?



I frequently encounter phrases like this: "It allows to apply these features to customisable sets of fonts".


My question is whether this is proper English or not? In my mind, "it allows the application of ..." or "it allows one to apply ..." sound much better.


I suspect that this is a Germanism (that would explain why I hear it so often), but it would be nice to know for sure.



Answer



I just ran a Google Books ngram and saw that from 1800-2012 the incidence of It allows to has risen from 0.0000011% to 0.0000053%. The biggest rise was from 1980 until now: 0.000002%-0.0000053%. From what I can tell from the books in which this appears, the most recent are technical writing by non-native-speakers of English. A couple from the 19th century are legitimate English:



the assembly may compel the observance of a proper decorum by all persons, whom it allows to be present at its proceedings.



and



It assembles more frequently, and at its own time, without any control from the king ; and it allows to him only a ...



Jim's example, It allows to pass certain particles while trapping others, is certainly, as he says, unwieldy because it's not parallel:



It allows to pass certain particles and {allows not / disallows} others.



which is a style monster regardless of the parallel construction. It should be:



It allows certain particles to pass {while trapping / but traps / but disallows} others.



The syntax is so bad in that sentence that, however grammatically valid it is, Fowler would retch after reading it. Merely thinking it up would violate the admonition against secret sin in the Sermon on the Mount, and actually writing it for public consumption would cause the reader as much pain as would driving a wooden stake through the heart of the sleeping Dracula cause the vampire.


Your conclusion that "'it allows the application of ...' or 'it allows one to apply ...' sound much better" is absolutely correct. That's what language is about in part: what it sounds like. If it sounds bad, it is bad, grammar be damned.


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