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#2 (permalink) Thu Jul 20, 2006 14:12 pm Colloquial sentence: too complicated grammar forms? |
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I'd say the sentence is grammatically wrong, since it has two subjects, the first being the pronoun of the second: 'it' and 'your not remembering my name'.
You could say however: "Your not remembering my name surprised me". To me, it sounds a bit formal, though.
A more usual way of saying it could be: "It surprised me that you didn't remember my name", for example. |
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Conchita Language Coach

Joined: 26 Dec 2005 Posts: 2826 Location: Madrid, Spain
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#3 (permalink) Thu Jul 20, 2006 14:23 pm Colloquial sentence: too complicated grammar forms? |
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| Conchita's point of view has reasonable grounds. I totally agree with Conchita's opinion |
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Pamela I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 1238 Location: Rf
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Tamara I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 25 May 2006 Posts: 1577 Location: UK
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#5 (permalink) Thu Jul 20, 2006 15:38 pm Colloquial sentence: too complicated grammar forms? |
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It would be interesting to have further opinions, especially on how this would sound to a native ear. I personally don't think I've heard this construction before, not even in colloquial English. I normally (blindingly!) bllindly trust dictionaries, though, hence the shadow of doubt on my part.
Edit: I meant "I blindly trust dictionaries, not blindingly' !! |
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Conchita Language Coach

Joined: 26 Dec 2005 Posts: 2826 Location: Madrid, Spain
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#6 (permalink) Fri Jul 21, 2006 12:13 pm Colloquial sentence: too complicated grammar forms? |
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Dear Amy
Do not tantalize us any more!
Your opinions about the sentence???
Yours
Tom |
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Tom I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 30 May 2006 Posts: 2053
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#7 (permalink) Fri Jul 21, 2006 12:24 pm It surprised... |
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Hi Tamara,
Your sentence:
| Quote: | | It surprised me your not remembering my name | is a bit of a dog's dinner and as Conchita has already elucidated, there are simpler ways of saying the same thing. You could just say: I'm surprised you didn't remember my name but it has been wrapped up into a mouthful. Grammatically it scrapes through because 'your not remembering my name' is in appoistion to 'It' and in that sense accounts for and explains what 'it' is.
Alan _________________ English as a Second Language You can read my ESL story French or English? |
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Alan Co-founder

Joined: 27 Sep 2003 Posts: 8417 Location: UK
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#8 (permalink) Fri Jul 21, 2006 12:48 pm Colloquial sentence: too complicated grammar forms? |
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Hi Tom
As Conchita and Alan have mentioned, the sentence clearly means "It surprised me that you didn't remember my name." and that sort of construction would also be more typical. The more typical "that you didn't remember" part has been transformed into the gerund form "your not remembering".
Maybe also worth mentioning is the fact that many people would probably tend to be "ungrammatical" (informally/colloquially) and use "you not remembering" if and when they use that sort of construction.
Amy |
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Yankee I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 8265 Location: USA
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#9 (permalink) Fri Jul 21, 2006 13:03 pm Colloquial sentence: too complicated grammar forms? |
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Hi!
This is not the first time when ABBYY Lingvo (at now this seems to be the most widely-used Russian-English electronic dictionary) gives dubious examples. Pretending that they are 'typical'...
It’s very important for such cases to have a feedback like you gave. Thank you very much!
Tamara _________________ It’s impossible to learn swimming without entering the water…
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Tamara I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 25 May 2006 Posts: 1577 Location: UK
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| Use of "back then" | About tenses: finish vs. have finished |