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Expression: He had an egg for dinner



 
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ESL Forum | English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
However + inversion? | 'To tie the knot' vs To knot the tie :)
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Expression: He had an egg for dinner Sat Oct 28, 2006 23:16 pm  Expression: He had an egg for dinner
 

Hi

Do you find anything grammatically objectionable in the following sentence? If so, what is that? Rolling Eyes

He had an egg for dinner last night.

Tom

PS I will tell you why I am asking this question after I get either a 'yes' or 'no' from you. Shocked
Tom
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Egg dinner Sat Oct 28, 2006 23:25 pm  Egg dinner
 

The sentence sounds fine, though I wouldn't call such a frugal meal a dinner. So, do we get to know why you're asking? Smile
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Regarding your second question Sun Oct 29, 2006 4:51 am  Regarding your second question
 

Tom
I would say "If so, what is it?".
canadian45
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Expression: He had an egg for dinner Sun Oct 29, 2006 6:04 am  Expression: He had an egg for dinner
 

.
A natural way to ask that same question would also be:
"If so, what?"

Tom, I'm going to guess why you posted your question. Cool

I bet someone told you this:
Even if a person has exactly one egg for dinner, he will still usually say "I had eggs for dinner."

Am I right? Wink

Amy
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Expression: He had an egg for dinner Sun Oct 29, 2006 8:50 am  Expression: He had an egg for dinner
 

A huge thank you to Conchita, Canadian45 and Amy! Laughing

In fact, I was very surprised to read in Collins Cobuild English Guide that we take cake, banana or egg for dinner etc. When a person says I had cake for dinner he is only concentrating on the product(meal) he took and not on the number. 'I will take cake for dinner tonight.' may include any number of cakes, maybe only two spoons. So the more natural way to say (according to the book)

I had egg for dinner--and now this may include different kinds of egg the person had--he ate until he was full.

I really do not know. I would like to know from you people. Is it again only bookish?? Shocked

Tom
Tom
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Expression: He had an egg for dinner Sun Oct 29, 2006 9:20 am  Expression: He had an egg for dinner
 

Hi Tom,

All this sounds very earnest and serious for a Sunday morning. May I be allowed to be puckish and flippant? I hope so. Note the expression: He won't stand a chance. She'll have him for breakfast.

A
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Man for breakfast Sun Oct 29, 2006 10:16 am  Man for breakfast
 

Alan wrote:
All this sounds very earnest and serious for a Sunday morning. May I be allowed to be puckish and flippant? I hope so. Note the expression: He won't stand a chance. She'll have him for breakfast.

In other words, and according to "Tom's" rule:

She'll have man for breakfast.

Sounds even more voracious, doesn't it? (I was going to say 'wolfish', but fortunately looked it up first!)
Conchita
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Ah, the sweet intricacies of language Sun Oct 29, 2006 10:53 am  Ah, the sweet intricacies of language
 

Tom wrote:
In fact, I was very surprised to read in Collins Cobuild English Guide that we take cake, banana or egg for dinner etc. When a person says I had cake for dinner he is only concentrating on the product(meal) he took and not on the number. 'I will take cake for dinner tonight.' may include any number of cakes, maybe only two spoons. So the more natural way to say (according to the book)

I had egg for dinner--and now this may include different kinds of egg the person had--he ate until he was full.

How can anything about the English language still surprise a sea dog like you, Tom?

You can even use the food adjectivally and say 'I had an egg dinner' (or 'a meat dinner', 'a fish dinner', etc).

Hope I didn't over-egg the pudding!
Conchita
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Expression: He had an egg for dinner Sun Oct 29, 2006 10:57 am  Expression: He had an egg for dinner
 

Final word: How about a dog's dinner?

A
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Man for breakfast Sun Oct 29, 2006 11:07 am  Man for breakfast
 

Conchita wrote:
She'll have man for breakfast.

Sounds even more voracious, doesn't it? (I was going to say 'wolfish', but fortunately looked it up first!)

Laughing Laughing Laughing
Thanks, Alan and Conchita. Your posts brightened up my breakfast. Very Happy

Tom, in case you haven't picked up on all of the wordplay, take a look here and here (definition 9) Very Happy

Amy
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Expression: He had an egg for dinner Sun Oct 29, 2006 11:10 am  Expression: He had an egg for dinner
 

Alan wrote:
Final word: How about a dog's dinner?

Alan, how is a dog's dinner different from a dog's breakfast?

A?
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Expression: He had an egg for dinner Sun Oct 29, 2006 23:24 pm  Expression: He had an egg for dinner
 

Tom wrote:
A huge thank you to Conchita, Canadian45 and Amy! Laughing

In fact, I was very surprised to read in Collins Cobuild English Guide that we take cake, banana or egg for dinner etc. When a person says I had cake for dinner he is only concentrating on the product(meal) he took and not on the number. 'I will take cake for dinner tonight.' may include any number of cakes, maybe only two spoons. So the more natural way to say (according to the book)

I had egg for dinner--and now this may include different kinds of egg the person had--he ate until he was full.

I really do not know. I would like to know from you people. Is it again only bookish?? Shocked

Tom

Do we agree? Or do you agree with the book?

Tom
Tom
I'm a Communicator ;-)


Joined: 30 May 2006
Posts: 1986

Expression: He had an egg for dinner Sun Oct 29, 2006 23:46 pm  Expression: He had an egg for dinner
 

Hi Tom

I would never say "I had banana for dinner" or "I had egg for dinner".

(However, I would be willing to say "I had eggs for breakfast." or "I had an egg for breakfast." Cool)

I would say:

I had cake for dessert.
I had ice cream for dessert.
I had fruit for dessert.
I had steak for dinner.
I had fish for dinner.
I had pasta for lunch.
I had soup for lunch.
I had yoghurt for breakfast.
I had toast for breakfast.
I had eggs for breakfast. Cool

There is no specific quantity indicated for any of these things. They are types of things you can eat, but nothing more specific than that. Is that what you want to know?

Amy
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