Question

3 Dec 2020

Simplified Chinese (China)

English (US)

Question about English (US)

What is the difference between he never speaks to me other than asked for something and he never speaks to me other than to ask for something ?Feel free to just provide example sentences.

Answers

insomniacat

3 Dec 2020

English (US)

Describing something a person does or doesn't do (he never speaks except to...) can be done by adding a dictionary form verb (to ask for something). Asked is not the dictionary form, and it just sounds very awkward.

Sometimes, it's easier to make sense of these phrases by trying to make them positive which removes a lot of extra words.

For example, "He speaks to me to ask for something" vs. He speaks to me to asked for something."

So, in this case, "He never speaks to me other than to ask for something." is correct, while "He never speaks to me other than asked for something" is not.

Danaynay

3 Dec 2020

English (US)

“He never speaks to me other than asked for something” is a little incorrect.

The sentence should be “He never speaks to me other than to ask for something.”

We don’t use past tense (asked) in a sentence like this because He has asked for something many times. Not just one time in the past.

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1292948556

3 Dec 2020

Simplified Chinese (China)

@Danaynay @insomniacat thanks for your answers. "asked"is the "correct" answer to this cloze completion, which is a very regular answer according to most of the reference book in china

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insomniacat

3 Dec 2020

English (US)

@1292948556 That's so odd. You would really only use "asked" in that context if the whole sentence was phrased in the past tense, like in "He never spoke to me other than when he asked for something."

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1 like 0 disagrees

1292948556

3 Dec 2020

Simplified Chinese (China)

@insomniacat the answer of my book is quote "only he is being asked would he speak to me " sounds like a passive voice ???

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insomniacat

3 Dec 2020

English (US)

@1292948556 It is very passive and awkward :(

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1292948556

3 Dec 2020

Simplified Chinese (China)

@insomniacat I will go for your answer, my book sucks and doesn't make sense. it confused me a lot

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insomniacat

3 Dec 2020

English (US)

@1292948556 I'm sorry your book is so confusing, but I'm very glad I could help! Good luck studying!

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