"after him"

[Haihao]

Hi,

Could you throw some light on why:

1. "After him, John bounced the ball" sounds funny while "John bounced the ball after him." fine.

2. "John rolled the ball into the ocean after him" reads unnatural, but "After him, John rolled the ball into the ocean." natural.

Thank you!

[Alan]

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Hi Haihao,

As usual you come up with interesting points. My first reaction to 'after him' is that it has a temporal sense. In other words John did something (bounced/rolled the ball) following what 'he' (another person) had done. This 'time' sense to me stays with all the sentences you have given. I think the only way to avoid this sense is to use another preposition/adverb and say: in front of him or simply forwards. Another thought is whether in fact you need any other word with 'roll' or 'bounce' because there is an assumption that the direction would be 'in front of'. Let's settle with 'rolled/bounced the ball forward'.

I don't know whether that sheds any further light?

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Present Simple

[Haihao]

Hi Alan,

As usual you lightens me up. And now I really feel like sitting down and having a cup of tea!

Thank you!

Haihao