Here's a funny one I can't explain. In a negative question with the auxiliary verb do, it sounds wrong when it's not abbreviated: Why did not you go yesterday? or present simple: Why do not you go at weekends? Now, if I say: Why didn't you go yesterday? or Why don't you go at weekends? it's okay! Now here's the funny thing: you can put the unabbreviated negative between the subject and the verb, though it sounds a little formal: Why did you not go yesterday? Why do you not go at weekends?
A funny one, eh?
quarta-feira, 13 de fevereiro de 2008
sexta-feira, 8 de fevereiro de 2008
"If you ever testify in court, you might wish you could have been as sharp as this policeman"
I found this sentence in an e-mail story from an American source. It's a horrible mix of conditionals. First off the whole story (which has nothing to do with this grammar item I'm going to look at) is worth repeating here just to lighten up the heavy grammar after.
He was being cross-examined by a defense attorney during a felony trial.
The lawyer was trying to undermine the policeman's credibility...
Q: 'Officer -- did you see my client fleeing the scene?'
A: 'No sir. But I subsequently observed a person matching the description of the offender, running several blocks away.'
Q: 'Officer -- who provided this description?'
A: 'The officer who responded to the scene.'
Q: 'A fellow officer provided the description of this so-called offender. Do you trust your fellow officers?'
A: 'Yes, sir With my life.'
Q: 'With your life? Let me ask you this then officer. Do you have a room where you change your clothes in preparation for your daily duties?'
A: 'Yes sir, we do!'
Q: 'And do you have a locker in the room?'
A: 'Yes sir, I do.'
Q: 'And do you have a lock on your locker?'
A: 'Yes sir'
Q: 'Now why is it, officer, if you trust your fellow officers with your life, you find it necessary to lock your locker in a room you share with these same officers?'
A: 'You see, sir -- we share the building with the court complex, and sometimes lawyers have been known to walk through that room.'
The courtroom erupted in laughter, and a prompt recess was called.. The officer on the stand has been nominated for this year's 'Best Comeback' line -- and we think he'll win.
Now let's look at that horrible conditional sentence. If you ever testify in court, is a future possibility, you may or may not testify in court sometime in the future (that's expressed by the ever) right? The condition is IF you testify; and IF you do, something else WILL happen, that's expressed in the second part of the sentence. However, here, something's terribly wrong. you might wish you could have been as sharp as this policeman, the first part of this second part (confused?) is okay, what gives us problems is you could have been. This expresses something that HAPPENED OR NOT IN THE PAST, and this doesn't go well with you might wish OR If you ever... The correct use in an example here would perhaps be, Don't you wish you could have been as sharp as that policeman (from that funny e-mail story) when you testified in court yesterday? This means YOU testified in court yesterday and you didn't have any snappy answers like the policeman, now someone remembers the funny e-mail story and reminds you of it and how you made a fool of yourself in court yesterday.
The correct completion of the conditional sentence should be: you might wish you could BE as sharp... or you might wish you were as sharp.. (GROAN! Now I have to explain you WERE)
Maybe next time.
I found this sentence in an e-mail story from an American source. It's a horrible mix of conditionals. First off the whole story (which has nothing to do with this grammar item I'm going to look at) is worth repeating here just to lighten up the heavy grammar after.
He was being cross-examined by a defense attorney during a felony trial.
The lawyer was trying to undermine the policeman's credibility...
Q: 'Officer -- did you see my client fleeing the scene?'
A: 'No sir. But I subsequently observed a person matching the description of the offender, running several blocks away.'
Q: 'Officer -- who provided this description?'
A: 'The officer who responded to the scene.'
Q: 'A fellow officer provided the description of this so-called offender. Do you trust your fellow officers?'
A: 'Yes, sir With my life.'
Q: 'With your life? Let me ask you this then officer. Do you have a room where you change your clothes in preparation for your daily duties?'
A: 'Yes sir, we do!'
Q: 'And do you have a locker in the room?'
A: 'Yes sir, I do.'
Q: 'And do you have a lock on your locker?'
A: 'Yes sir'
Q: 'Now why is it, officer, if you trust your fellow officers with your life, you find it necessary to lock your locker in a room you share with these same officers?'
A: 'You see, sir -- we share the building with the court complex, and sometimes lawyers have been known to walk through that room.'
The courtroom erupted in laughter, and a prompt recess was called.. The officer on the stand has been nominated for this year's 'Best Comeback' line -- and we think he'll win.
Now let's look at that horrible conditional sentence. If you ever testify in court, is a future possibility, you may or may not testify in court sometime in the future (that's expressed by the ever) right? The condition is IF you testify; and IF you do, something else WILL happen, that's expressed in the second part of the sentence. However, here, something's terribly wrong. you might wish you could have been as sharp as this policeman, the first part of this second part (confused?) is okay, what gives us problems is you could have been. This expresses something that HAPPENED OR NOT IN THE PAST, and this doesn't go well with you might wish OR If you ever... The correct use in an example here would perhaps be, Don't you wish you could have been as sharp as that policeman (from that funny e-mail story) when you testified in court yesterday? This means YOU testified in court yesterday and you didn't have any snappy answers like the policeman, now someone remembers the funny e-mail story and reminds you of it and how you made a fool of yourself in court yesterday.
The correct completion of the conditional sentence should be: you might wish you could BE as sharp... or you might wish you were as sharp.. (GROAN! Now I have to explain you WERE)
Maybe next time.
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