 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
| HomeDiscussion GroupsEnglish UsageBritish EnglishESL Teaching Learnglish.com Contact UsLink To UsSearch & Site Map |
Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2010Need your intuition
Hello, everyone, If you are a native speaker of English, would you please help me judge if the following three sentences are acceptable/grammatical? Thanks. --Ray (1) I guess John ate rice or drank milk for breakfast. (2) What do you guess John ate or drank milk for breakfast? (3) What do you guess John ate rice or drank for breakfast? > Hello, everyone, > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > (2) What do you guess John ate or drank milk for breakfast? > (3) What do you guess John ate rice or drank for breakfast? #1 sounds fine, although he might have done both. #2 and #3 are not something I would expect in English. These would be fine: What would you guess John had for breakfast: rice or milk? Would you guess that John had rice or milk for breakfast? Would you guess that John ate rice or drank milk for breakfast? Bill in Kentucky >> Hello, everyone, >> [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > Would you guess that John had rice or milk for breakfast? > Would you guess that John ate rice or drank milk for breakfast? In the UK this use of 'Guess' is informal. It still sounds American, although perhaps less so than a century ago. (Seven centuries ago it sounded English!) In Standard English 'think' or 'suppose' are used instead. But using 'suppose' in a question nowadays - 'What do you suppose John ate?' - brands you a nob. >> (1) I guess John ate rice or drank milk for breakfast. This is grammatically correct and acceptable. (Informal, in the UK.) You don't need 'ate' and 'drank' though. 'Had' is perfect. US (and UK informal): I guess John had rice or milk for breakfast. UK: I suppose John had rice or milk for breakfast. >> (2) What do you guess John ate or drank milk for breakfast? >> (3) What do you guess John ate rice or drank for breakfast? These are grammatically wrong, and meaningless. For (2) You could ask: Do you think John ate something for breakfast, or just drank milk? And for (3): What do you think John had for breakfast: rice or milk? Or Guess what John had for breakfast: rice or milk? (THIS use of 'guess' is Standard English.) Peter >> (1) I guess John ate rice or drank milk for breakfast. >#1 sounds fine, although he might have done both. In fact, if he only had milk, most people would probably say he didn't have breakfast. ¬R http://users.bestweb.net/~notr/bluemoon.html "Nothing says 'Thursday' quite like Ira Fusfeld." > Hello, everyone, > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > (2) What do you guess John ate or drank milk for breakfast? > (3) What do you guess John ate rice or drank for breakfast? These are quite similar to some of the examples that Steven Pinker discusses in The Language Instinct. If your English is up to it (and if your library has a copy of the book) I would suggest you read it.  Signatureathel |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2012 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.