Guest  +  78374 Fri, 04 Mar 05 01:34 PM Hi all, are the following sentences equivalents? Everything is going bad to me == Everything is going wrong to me And conversely Everything is going (well/right/good/ok) to me Does they mean the same? Please I need some clarification. Thanks in advance. Guest

	Mister Micawber  +  78398 Fri, 04 Mar 05 03:14 PM Or 'for me'. Mister Micawber Joined on Wed, Aug 4 2004 Yokohama Veteran Member 30,769 'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master-- that's all.'

	meantolearn  +  78465 Fri, 04 Mar 05 09:04 PM Hi, So, the generic pattern is: [be + going + adj/adv + with/for someone] and it doesn't matter whether it''s good or bad. Is it correct? Does anyone know the reason why 'to' is not appropriate? meantolearn Joined on Thu, Feb 24 2005 Regular Member 808 I think; therefore I am.

	Mister Micawber  +  78488 Fri, 04 Mar 05 11:56 PM 'Be going + ADVERB + with/for', MTL-- those are all adverbs. Bad things happen to us, but the 'going...for/with' collocation reflects in concept the events/experiences we are 'passing through' rather than those that are 'acting upon' us. That is why I see 'to' as inappropriate. Because idioms have a mind of their own, I see no grammatical reason why 'to' is not used here. Mister Micawber Idioms, Verbs, Adverbs

	meantolearn  +  78581 Sat, 05 Mar 05 04:51 AM Hi Mr. M., Thanks for your reply. [Something goes wrong/bad/good for/with someone] I suppose 'go' means 'become'. 'Become' is a copula verb, or can be called a 'linking verb'. It usually appear in this pattern: [S + V + C] For instance, The weather became warmer. Subject = the weather, V = became, Complement = warmer. Warmer is used as the complement of the subject 'the weather'. Hence warmer is used to modify the subject 'the weather' not the verb 'became'. So 'warmer' is an adjective. 'Go' has same kind of behavior. For instance, The bread's gone(=become) mouldy/bad/sour. Mouldy/bad/sour all function as adjectvies which modify the subject 'the bread'. And they are not adverbs. I looked up two dictionaries. They both consider 'wrong' in 'something goes wrong' as an adverb. But both dictionaries agree that either 'go' is an linking verb or go = become. If 'go' is a linking verb and = become, then 'wrong' must be an adjective in 'something goes wrong'. They are sort of contradicts themselves. Aren't they? Well, it definitely makes me go crazy! meantolearn Verbs, Adverbs

	Mister Micawber  +  78588 Sat, 05 Mar 05 05:12 AM Oops! Yes, I think you're right-- it's a copula here, hence predicate adjectives. Mister Micawber