Learn English and meet people on the world’s largest EFL social network

Make

General English Grammar & Vocabulary,... » ESL General English Grammar Questions

We have partnered with TradePub to bring you free industry magazines and resources - no coupons or credit cards required!

Visit: englishforums.tradepub.com


Share this topic:
This question is Not Answered
Latest post Wed, Dec 28 2005 7:00 AM by Anonymous. 3 replies.
Suggest an answer | | |
hanuman_2000  +  175408 Wed, 28 Dec 05 04:30 AM

Hello,

1. We blow air into balloon and make it big.

I  am not clear about the construction of the sentence . Does it mean

2. We blow air into balloon and the air make it big.     or

3. We blow air into balloon and we make it big. or  anything else.

 

Could anybody please rephrase  the sentence  in better way?
hanuman_2000
Joined on Thu, Aug 12 2004
INDIA
Contributing Member 1,644
Anonymous, 3 yr 330 days ago

Hi,

This is an ambiguous sentence, meaning that it is open to two or more interpretations.

"We blow air into a balloon and make it big."

means - just what you said above -

  • We blow air into a balloon and we make it(the balloon) big.
  • We blow air into a balloon and the air makes it(the balloon) big.

Both are correct, the meaning most often taken from the above sentence would however be the first usage.

Hope it clear

Regards,

Tina

Danyoo  +  175424 Wed, 28 Dec 05 07:03 AM
A correct way to say the sentence would be:
We blow air into the ballon to make it big.

It means blowing air into the balloon will inflate the balloon (make it filled with air) and make it become large.
Danyoo
Joined on Fri, Nov 11 2005
Chicago, USA
Regular Member 558
To err is human, to forgive divine. 잘못을 저지르는 것은 인간이지만 용서할수있는 것은 하늘과 같은것.
CalifJim  +  175425 Wed, 28 Dec 05 07:05 AM
The first sentence means the same thing as the third sentence:  We blow air into the balloon and we make it big.

Better rephrasings:

1.  We blow up the balloon.
2.  We inflate the balloon by blowing air into it.

CJ
CalifJim
Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004
California
Veteran Member 22,389
"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche
Welcome to Englishforums.com, the world's largest EFL / TEFL social network.

Places to start

Browse Englishforums

© MediaCet Ltd. 2009, v5.0.3607.32596. All content posted by our users is a contribution to the public domain, this does not include imported usenet posts.*
For web related enquires please contact us on webmaster@mediacet.com, status updates are available at status.mediacet.com.
*Usenet post removal: Use 'X-No-Archive'. You may not have understood that your posts would end up in the public domain. Please send proof of the poster's email, we will remove immediately.