Question
Updated on
2 Dec 2020
- Korean
-
English (US)
-
Guarani
Question about English (US)
A. She was looking at him with a dog.
Without further context, only judging by sentence A, can't we know who was with a dog?
I mean it can be she or him who was with a dog.
A. She was looking at him with a dog.
Without further context, only judging by sentence A, can't we know who was with a dog?
I mean it can be she or him who was with a dog.
Without further context, only judging by sentence A, can't we know who was with a dog?
I mean it can be she or him who was with a dog.
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- English (US)
The sentence isn't really clear; but I would guess that he had the dog.
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Obviously wrong
Explanation is not enough
Written in a language I can't understand
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- English (US)
yes, it is somewhat ambiguous.
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- Korean
- English (US)
@Cal7 it's grammatically correct as written. I think it's very likely for the reader to assume that "with a dog" modifies "him."
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- English (US)
@Cal7 If you want to use "with a dog" to distinguish one person from another then I don't think the sentence is grammatically correct. It would be clearer if you said: "She was looking at the man with the dog".
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- Korean
@Sw00d @ascott
Thank you very much again.
I just need one more last question.
What do you think of sentence B below?
B. I encountered a tiger and threw stones at it with its babies so that it would run away from me.
Don't you think sentence B makes no sense?
I think sentence B does make sense if "its babies" modifies "it" in "at it".
Thank you very much again.
I just need one more last question.
What do you think of sentence B below?
B. I encountered a tiger and threw stones at it with its babies so that it would run away from me.
Don't you think sentence B makes no sense?
I think sentence B does make sense if "its babies" modifies "it" in "at it".
- Korean
@ascott
Then if I didn't use "with a dog" to distinguish one person from another, is sentence A grammatical?
Then if I didn't use "with a dog" to distinguish one person from another, is sentence A grammatical?
- English (US)
@Cal7 I think it is grammatically correct; but it just doesn't sound quite right.
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- Korean
@ascott
Me too, A doesn't seem to sound right with the pronoun "him". It should be "a man".
"Him" doesn't fit "with a dog" because "him" is already specified.
Me too, A doesn't seem to sound right with the pronoun "him". It should be "a man".
"Him" doesn't fit "with a dog" because "him" is already specified.
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