This blog is for students taking English 140-189 at Athabasca University.
13 November 2014
*GRAMMAR QUESTION*
Correct the errors in the following sentence:
Because you were giving Tony and I such
bad instruction getting to you’re house; we could of gone the wrong way and
ended up completely lost and being to late for the party.
Solutions will be posted in the next edition of the blog.
6 comments:
Liudmila
said...
Because you gave me and Tony such bad instructions on how to get to your house, we have gone the wrong way, ended up completely lost, and been too late for the party.
Because you gave Tony and I such bad instructions to get to your house, we went the wrong way and ended up completely lost, and were late for the party.
Because you gave Tony and me such bad instructions on how to get to your house, we went the wrong way and ended up completely lost and were too late for the party.
I was debating the "could have" add on to the main sentence, but decided against it as it seems that "because" can be used only to introduce a clause.
Reference:
"In Standard English, the word “because” can be used two ways. One of them is to introduce a clause, as in “Aardvark was late because he was waiting for the repairman to show up.” Used this way, “because” is a subordinating conjunction. The other is to team up with “of” to form what’s called a compound preposition. For example, “Aardvark was late because of heavy traffic.” In the past three or four years, though, a new usage for “because” has been developing. - See more at: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/because-as-a-preposition#sthash.tCH6I55h.dpuf"
Well done, Liudmila and Olena. But I think you changed the meaning slightly by omitting "could". In the original sentence, the speaker is suggesting that they found their way despite the bad instructions.
Before I posted my final reply, I did Google if I can use "because" in conjunction with "could" in the past tense.
I'm currently working on my Unit 2 (Modals and Related Expressions) and I was only able to find that "could" can be used as "could have + PP" if:
1. it's a suggestion (affirmative only): You could have talked to your teacher.
2. 50% or less certainty: He could have been at home.
I think the second explanation was what I needed. Unfortunately then I checked on "because" use.
I looks like "because" can only be used in two ways in a sentence (the second one is irrelevant as it involves "because of" - a compound preposition):
1. "to introduce a clause" and "to connect the result of something with its reason". (http://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/as-because-or-since)
It seemed to me that to get a result in the end, I couldn't have used 'could have + PP' in this sentence. (If they didn't get lost, and didn't go the wrong way, etc. then there is no 'unfortunate' result, right?)
That is the reason I chose to use simple past instead.
6 comments:
Because you gave me and Tony such bad instructions on how to get to your house, we have gone the wrong way, ended up completely lost, and been too late for the party.
Because you gave Tony and I such bad instructions to get to your house, we went the wrong way and ended up completely lost, and were late for the party.
Because you gave Tony and me such bad instructions on how to get to your house, we went the wrong way and ended up completely lost and were too late for the party.
I was debating the "could have" add on to the main sentence, but decided against it as it seems that "because" can be used only to introduce a clause.
Reference:
"In Standard English, the word “because” can be used two ways. One of them is to introduce a clause, as in “Aardvark was late because he was waiting for the repairman to show up.” Used this way, “because” is a subordinating conjunction. The other is to team up with “of” to form what’s called a compound preposition. For example, “Aardvark was late because of heavy traffic.” In the past three or four years, though, a new usage for “because” has been developing. - See more at: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/because-as-a-preposition#sthash.tCH6I55h.dpuf"
I wonder if I need a comma splice before the last "and".
Well done, Liudmila and Olena. But I think you changed the meaning slightly by omitting "could". In the original sentence, the speaker is suggesting that they found their way despite the bad instructions.
I don't quite understand your explanation, Olena.
Sabrina, your response still has a few errors.
I'll post the full solution soon.
Michael,
Before I posted my final reply, I did Google if I can use "because" in conjunction with "could" in the past tense.
I'm currently working on my Unit 2 (Modals and Related Expressions) and I was only able to find that "could" can be used as "could have + PP" if:
1. it's a suggestion (affirmative only): You could have talked to your teacher.
2. 50% or less certainty: He could have been at home.
I think the second explanation was what I needed. Unfortunately then I checked on "because" use.
I looks like "because" can only be used in two ways in a sentence (the second one is irrelevant as it involves "because of" - a compound preposition):
1. "to introduce a clause" and "to connect the result of something with its reason". (http://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/as-because-or-since)
It seemed to me that to get a result in the end, I couldn't have used 'could have + PP' in this sentence. (If they didn't get lost, and didn't go the wrong way, etc. then there is no 'unfortunate' result, right?)
That is the reason I chose to use simple past instead.
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