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English Grammar


she ruined her dress after....

Fugendichter
User since 2008
Posts: 588

1 Feb. 2010

What's your opinion, dear colleagues!


She ruined her dress after trying to catch my frisbee


or


She ruined her dress after having tried to catch my frisbee?


CW

9 comments

  • Administrator
    Posts: 154

    1 Feb. 2010

    interesting; i dunno!
  • User since 2006
    Posts: 2715

    1 Feb. 2010

    Willy's back. So much the better. He must have had a longlasting vacation. We hope it wasn't a sick leave.


    Who is she, Gwendo, that little silly minx that caught your frisbee? Good to her that she ruined her dress. Good to you, Gwendo, that you play frisbee.


    As I am proud to be your colleague (euphemism for classmate?), I wanna give you my opinion. Here you are:
    Probably both sentences are grammatically correct.
    But my liking goes to the first one. In that first sentence, the 'after' introducing the relative clause doesn't work as a common conjunction but rather as a 'connector' letting know that the little silly minx ruined her dress by trying to catch your toy.


    The second version only sets a relation in time between the two facts.


    You and me, both? Or would you disagree, Gwendo?
    Thank you for enhancing our learning.


    [CW]
    Just for possible novice reader: 'you and me, both' = you and me, we share the same opinion.
  • User since 2006
    Posts: 2715

    2 Feb. 2010

    CS to Gee
    - As silly expresses your opinion about the subject, it has to come before an adjective that expresses the size.
    a silly little minx
    Besides I can't see why she is a silly little minx.
    - after seemed to be a preposition so far, not a conjunction;


    My opinion to Gwendo
    I vote for your first sentence. 'After trying to catch' implies that she ruined her dress at a moment immediately following the try. But I think, as Gee, that the preposition here goes beyond its time effect, just as if I said 'after seeing her, I changed my mind'. There is a hint of causal relation that doesn't lie in the second sentence.
  • User since 2006
    Posts: 2715

    2 Feb. 2010

    Well, Gee, you might be right with the grammar but you are off the mark about the silly little minx. You probably were mistaking the frisbee with a boomerang that can be played solo. You throw the frisbee flying towards a playing partner who tries to catch it and is likely to throw it back to you. It was Gwendo's playing partner who tried to catch the frisbee, not a silly little minx who wanted to steal it.
  • User since 2006
    Posts: 2715

    2 Feb. 2010

    Thank you all for correcting me.


    About Gwendo's partner, by all accounts she was a silly little minx by failing to catch the frisbee and - what beats everything -by wearing a dress. There are so many jerseys on discount at the moment.
  • User since 2008
    Posts: 588

    6 Feb. 2010

    once more: one big laughter a day
    keeps the doctor away.




    Thanks for your healthy refletions, dont j'agree comletement. (I don't know how to say it in English)


    CW


    Greetings from the icy North Sea.
  • User since 2006
    Posts: 2715

    10 Feb. 2010

    Just figure out ! Gwendo doesn't completely agree !! It must be the freezing wind of the icy North Sea that has made Gwendo's hands go numb and her mind go blunt. Wait and see when she is back to Freiburg.
  • User since 2008
    Posts: 588

    11 Feb. 2010

    From the icy Northsea: it wasn't a silly little minx at all, it was Icarus's mother who came along with her son to Brian'sPicnic
  • User since 2006
    Posts: 2715

    11 Feb. 2010

    Goodness gracious me! Icarus' mother trying to catch a frisbee! What a deeply moving pics!

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