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 #62 (permalink) Wed Jun 04, 2008 23:40 pm Explain this type of sentence: I was asked to call you. |
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| Molly wrote: |
| What's the difference between "a major reality" and "a reality", folks? |
Rather a grudging admission on your part, old chap. Cf.
| Molly wrote: |
| Can't find any examples of "I was asked to call you by...". Can anyone else? |
MrP |
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MrPedantic
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| #63 (permalink) Thu Jun 05, 2008 3:01 am Explain this type of sentence: I was asked to call you. |
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| Molly wrote: |
| Yankee wrote: |
| Molly wrote: |
| You have to know how to use the corpus. |
I see. How many instances of "I was asked to call you" did you manage to find in the corpora using your method? And of those, how many meant "You asked me to call you"?
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I didn't find any, which tells me that "was asked to call" is not very popular at all (as with most passives). |
That wasn't a "categorical, unmodalised" statement, was it?  Does your statement include all registers? All contexts?
My experience tells me that "I was asked to call you" is not unusual in the context of a telephone call. And the specific broader context of the phone call will influence whether that wording or some other wording is chosen.
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Yankee
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| #64 (permalink) Thu Jun 05, 2008 7:59 am Explain this type of sentence: I was asked to call you. |
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| Quote: |
Does your statement include all registers? All contexts?
My experience tells me that "I was asked to call you" is not unusual in the context of a telephone call. And the specific broader context of the phone call will influence whether that wording or some other wording is chosen. |
This is quite an hillarious turnaround by you here. For months I've been asking you to qualify your "limited use", "not likely" and "doesn't exist in English" statements regarding register, variant, etc. Now you want to talk about register.
Now, if we can find a suitable telephone corpus... |
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Molly
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| #65 (permalink) Thu Jun 05, 2008 23:13 pm Explain this type of sentence: I was asked to call you. |
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| Molly wrote: |
| Now, if we can find a suitable telephone corpus... |
If you were expecting a call from a British company, perhaps about your insurance cover or pension scheme, would you be surprised to hear
1. I was asked to call you by my colleague...
from the voice at the end of the line?
MrP |
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MrPedantic
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| #66 (permalink) Thu Jun 05, 2008 23:37 pm Explain this type of sentence: I was asked to call you. |
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| MrPedantic wrote: |
If you were expecting a call from a British company, perhaps about your insurance cover or pension scheme, would you be surprised to hear
1. I was asked to call you by my colleague...
from the voice at the end of the line?
MrP |
In that mimimal world, no. Why do you ask? |
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Molly
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| #67 (permalink) Fri Jun 06, 2008 0:30 am Explain this type of sentence: I was asked to call you. |
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| Molly wrote: |
| MrPedantic wrote: |
If you were expecting a call from a British company, perhaps about your insurance cover or pension scheme, would you be surprised to hear
1. I was asked to call you by my colleague...
from the voice at the end of the line?
MrP |
In that mimimal world, no.
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And are there other contexts in which you wouldn't be surprised to hear a sentence begin with "I was asked to call you by..."?
MrP |
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MrPedantic
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| #68 (permalink) Fri Jun 06, 2008 8:29 am Explain this type of sentence: I was asked to call you. |
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| Quote: |
| And are there other contexts in which you wouldn't be surprised to hear a sentence begin with "I was asked to call you by..."? |
Which contexts? |
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Molly
I'm a Communicator ;-)
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| #69 (permalink) Fri Jun 06, 2008 8:49 am Explain this type of sentence: I was asked to call you. |
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| MrPedantic wrote: |
And are there other contexts in which you wouldn't be surprised to hear a sentence begin with "I was asked to call you by..."?
MrP |
What about this one:
I was asked to call you by your name ?
Or: I was asked to call you names ? |
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Lost_Soul
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Molly
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Lost_Soul
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| #72 (permalink) Fri Jun 06, 2008 9:33 am Explain this type of sentence: I was asked to call you. |
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| lost_soul wrote: |
| Wow, that's too many, let's call it quits |
Are you asking me to call it quits. |
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Molly
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| #73 (permalink) Sat Jun 07, 2008 0:20 am Explain this type of sentence: I was asked to call you. |
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| Molly wrote: |
| Quote: |
| And are there other contexts in which you wouldn't be surprised to hear a sentence begin with "I was asked to call you by..."? |
Which contexts? |
Are there other telephonic contexts where you wouldn't be surprised to hear "I was asked to call you by <someone>"?
MrP |
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MrPedantic
I'm a Communicator ;-)
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Location: Southern England
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| #74 (permalink) Sat Jun 07, 2008 10:23 am Explain this type of sentence: I was asked to call you. |
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| Quote: |
| Are there other telephonic contexts where you wouldn't be surprised to hear "I was asked to call you by <someone>"? |
Not that I can think of. Can you refer us to some? |
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Molly
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| #75 (permalink) Sat Jun 07, 2008 10:39 am Explain this type of sentence: I was asked to call you. |
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So you would only be unsurprised to hear it in the context of a) a British company + b) a call about your pension or insurance scheme?
Or would you be unsurprised to hear it in e.g. a cold-calling context?
MrP |
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MrPedantic
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| What does "thanks in anticipation" mean? | unreasonable large |
