Kilimanjaro  +  245684 Fri, 14 Jul 06 10:53 PM "However nice this dress is!" Is such an exclamation sentence possible grammatically? Does "how" as it stands alone-excluding "ever"-  have the same function? Kilimanjaro Joined on Sat, Dec 3 2005 İzmir Full Member 273

	Philip  +  245687 Fri, 14 Jul 06 11:05 PM  Kilimanjaro wrote: "However nice this dress is!"I think you mean, "How nice this dress is" = "I think this dress is really great, don't you agree". "However nice this dress is, I'm not going to buy it" = "this dress is really great, but I'm not going to buy it anyway". Is such an exclamation sentence possible grammatically? Does "how" as it stands alone-excluding "ever"-  have the same function? I hope this helps.   Philip Joined on Thu, Jun 23 2005 Veteran Member 8,726 At reise er at leve! - H. C. Andersen

	CalifJim  +  245784 Sat, 15 Jul 06 08:27 AM On a rare occasion I have heard however substitute for how in such an exclamation. Nevertheless, it doesn't strike me as good modern English.  To my ear it seems old-fashioned to the point of sounding wrong! CJ CalifJim Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004 California Veteran Member 22,379 "There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche

	Maple  +  245807 Sat, 15 Jul 06 10:26 AM I'm very glad to find out you native speakers say that usage is rare or wrong, for it's very uncomfortable to read or hear that sentence, though it's not difficult to grasp the meaning. Thank you! Maple Joined on Tue, Jul 11 2006 An ESL student in China Contributing Member 1,110

	Marius Hancu  +  245817 Sat, 15 Jul 06 01:19 PM "However nice this dress is, I'm not going to buy it" = "this dress is really great, but I'm not going to buy it anyway". I think Philip is right about this one. Marius Hancu Joined on Wed, Apr 26 2006 Veteran Member 11,673

	Maple  +  245823 Sat, 15 Jul 06 02:08 PM Yes, U'r right. But I think Kilimanjaro was asking as an exclamatory sentence, whether "However nice this dress is!' equals to "how nice this dress is!" And "However nice this dress is, I'm not going to buy it" is not an exclamatory sentence. Rgds!   Maple

	MrPedantic  +  245840 Sat, 15 Jul 06 02:52 PM I would take "However nice this dress is" as a concessive clause. So it requires a context in which a concession might be made. A concessive clause might stand alone in a passage of dialogue, where context provided its completion:  "So you're saying you would never spend $500 on a dress?" "No, never." "However nice it was?" "However nice it was." i.e. "however nice it was(, you would never spend $500 on a dress)?". But I'm not sure it's possible to find a context for an exclamatory version; except in the case of direct quotation. MrP MrPedantic Joined on Tue, Oct 12 2004 Veteran Member 12,592 ...opella forensis / adducit febris... Clauses