Puzzling grammar?
Posted by R. Berg on February 20, 2003
In Reply to: Puzzling grammar? posted by English Learner on February 20, 2003
: Hello,
: I know this
forum is used to ask questions related to idiom. But I do trust you about any
interpretations of English grammar. I had post the following questions in different
grammar forums but I got totally different answers. I was quite puzzled by it,
and wondering if you could help me out. Here're the questions:
: 1.Which is
grammatically correct and natural?
: (a) I heard he said you won't come to
my party next week.
: (b) I heard from him that you won't come to my party
next week.
: (c) I heard from him that you wouldn't come to my party next
week.
: (d) I heard it from him that you won't come to my party next week.
: (e) I heard it from him that you wouldn't come to my party next week.
:
2. If some of them are correct, do they share the same meaning?
: One answered
that (a) is the most natural and (d) and (e) are incorrect. The other answered
that (a) is incorrect and the rest(b,c,d,e) are correct.
: Thank you very much
for your help.
a, b, and c are correct. d and e are incorrect.
a means SOMEBODY ELSE (not he) reported to me that he said you will not come.
b means HE HIMSELF told me you will not come.
c means the same thing as b. There may be a difference: a speaker might use c to mean you will actively refuse to come to my party and b to mean you simply won't be there, for whatever reason, perhaps a reason outside your control. But speakers who choose b or c do not necessarily have that difference in mind.
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