for their foolishness

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Vincent Teo

#543767 Sun, 20 Jul 08 03:02 AM

Can I say,

John laughed at them for their foolishness because they had been tricked.

Vincent Teo

Joined on Sat, Mar 31 2007

Senior Member (3,883)

Philip

#543769 Sun, 20 Jul 08 03:07 AM

I can't say that I understand the situation, but the sentence is correct.

Philip

Joined on Thu, Jun 23 2005

USA Pacific Northwest (Seattle)

Veteran Member (6,181)

At reise er at leve! - H. C. Andersen

khoff

#543797 Sun, 20 Jul 08 04:30 AM

Vincent -- you have been posting a whole story one sentence at a time in separate posts. Did you see my reply yesterday, where I suggested that it's hard to understand the individual sentences without any context? It would be better if you posted a whole paragraph in one post.

khoff

Joined on Sun, Mar 6 2005

Denver, Colorado, USA, Earth

Senior Member (2,566)

Native speaker of American English (but not a grammar expert)

Paragraphs

Vincent Teo

#543802 Sun, 20 Jul 08 04:39 AM

Oh, I saw the threads just now. Thanks your advice. Next time , I would post a whole text. Thanks!!

Vincent Teo

Peaceblinkfriend

#543869 Sun, 20 Jul 08 09:04 AM

I don't know much about the nitty-gritties of the words but can a person be deemed as foolish if they have been tricked?

transitive verb
1 :to deceive by cunning or artifice : impose on, defraud, or cheat usually by specious means : affect or induce by deceit or trickery *trick another in a sale* *trick him into consent*
2 : to obtain or bring about by trickery *advertising designed to trick your purse*

intransitive verb
1 : to practice trickery or fraud
2 : to practice or play tricks or pranks : TRIFLE — usually used with with

(quoted from Merriam-Webter's Unabridged Dictionary)

What I mean is if a person is deceived by cunning or artifice, is it not only normal and natural that he or she be a victim of the trick? How would you be foolish if you were kept hidden form the truth and made believe a false idea?

I hope it makes sense.

Thanks

PBF

Peaceblinkfriend

Joined on Wed, May 9 2007

Australia

Contributing Member (1,563)

Verbs

New2grammar

#543879 Sun, 20 Jul 08 09:37 AM

If you are a victim of a trick, you may have been cheated and may feel foolish and upset. You just asked a good question. I've been wanting to learn the word for a long time but have to say it's not as easy as it sounds. I mean I've heard it many times but still don't know how to use it in the right situation. Shame on me. Sad

New2grammar

Joined on Tue, Nov 21 2006

Veteran Member (7,670)

Who wants to go sailing around the world with me?

Peaceblinkfriend

#543882 Sun, 20 Jul 08 09:56 AM

You shouldn't feel ashamed. It takes an awful lot of time and effort to learn any language, espcially English, which I think is one of most constantly evolving languages with it's users being so diversed and it's ubiquitous spread and application.

PBF

Peaceblinkfriend