English term
Morocco
Literature,Marketing & Legal Translation
Native in: Arabic (Variants: Kuwaiti, Najdi, Standard-Arabian (MSA), Hassaniya, Moroccan, UAE) 
, Berber (Other) (Variants: Tashelhit , Riffian, Central Atlas Tamazight, Tamazight , Standard Moroccan Tamazight, Tarifit ) 
Works in: English to Arabic, French to Arabic, Arabic to English, and 21 more.
Signature/signing/signed
"He later gave her the employment contract for signature."
"He later gave her the employment contract for signing."
"He later gave her the employment contract to be signed."
Thank you in advance.
Non-PRO (2): Tony M, Yvonne Gallagher
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Responses
He later gave her the employment contract to sign.
I have suggested this as possibly the best solution closest to your three suggestions; but again, the word order can change the meaning, and this may not be optimal.
If we assume 'she' is looking to be employed by 'him', then it is clearest if we use 'to sign' — that way, it is pretty much totally clear that it is for her to sign.
But suppose this is in fact, say, the secretary who is giving the contract to his CEO to get someone else to sign — in that case, the other 2 options would be better, as leaving it open as to who will be doing the signing.
Likewise, the position of 'later' as you have it may not be ideal, and can change the slant.
"He later..." sounds a little unnatural to me in EN, and seems to imply soemthing about the temporal relationship between the 2 events that may or may not be intended. If we wrote "He showed her round the factory, and then later gave her the contract to sign", it is clear and unequivocal as to the sequence of events and connection between them. "Later, he gave her the contract to sign" suggest perhaps more of a contrast between the sequence of events" — it could imply the 2 events are unrelated. "He had a coffee. Later, he gave her one"
Pushing 'later' to a position later in the sentence could imply a separation in time is intended: "He introduced her to the other staff, and then only later did he give her the contract to sign."
So all your suggestions could be right, but have possible differences of nuance.
| Do you think it's a "NON-PRO question" since even native translators have found it quite challenging to come up with the correct answer? Thank you for your explanation, by the way. |
| agree |
Yvonne Gallagher
: I agree with you (and Mark) the infinitive "to sign" is best for a test. I really wouldn't use that position for "later" and see you have misgivings as well. A timeline and context would be good to know who is to do the signing and when
46 mins
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Thank you,Yvonne!
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United States
Six languages into flawless English
Native in: English
Works in: German to English, French to English, Spanish to English, and 4 more.
They're all the same
I also think "he later gave her" is perfectly clear.
"He later gave her the employment contract for signing."
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Note added at 23 hrs (2021-04-21 18:19:46 GMT)
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Assuming "her" is the one to sign, I would use:
"He later gave her the employment contract to sign."
| neutral |
writeaway
: convincing refs to back so much confidence
25 mins
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| neutral |
Cilian O'Tuama
: in whose English?
6 hrs
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| disagree |
Yvonne Gallagher
: not at all natural
13 hrs
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Discussion
we natives don't need to look up dictionaries/grammar books or research this and 3 of us instantly chose the infinitive "to sign" as the best fit in the context as given. So how can you say we were "challenged"? Because one person was out of step? Yes, 3 of us had some misgivings about the position of "later" but if we'd had the complete context that would also have been completely clear at the outset. And you specifically addressed the question to natives, generally the case in this pair.
These letters are for signing in the IN tray,
OR these letters are awaiting signature
The timeline is needed for context. Usually, contracts are given to be looked over and signed later. They are not signed on the spot.
So, the posiion of "later":
(Some time) after the interview he gave her the contract to sign
Later, he gave her the contract to sign
OR
he gave her the contract and asked her to get it back to him the next day
He gave her the contract to sign later
2. He gave her the employment contract to sign later.