User_gary  +  411203 Wed, 29 Aug 07 05:39 PM Please explain to me what the sentence means. Please explain what the sentence means to me. Which one is correct? User_gary Joined on Fri, Jan 5 2007 Senior Member 2,545 Honesty is the best policy

	Tanit  +  411224 Wed, 29 Aug 07 06:33 PM I think you need the first one. To me, the second one can have a completely different meaning, where "to me" goes with "means": you might be asking somebody (say, John) to explain to somebody else (say, Mary) your understanding of a sentence. However, I wouldn't see any ambiguity if instead of "what the sentence means" you had another object (as, for instance, in "Please explain the task to the students"). If I were you, I'd wait for a more reliable source. Tanit Joined on Mon, Jul 31 2006 Senior Member 3,016 There is no greater pain than to remember a happy time when one is in misery. (Dante)

	TeeShane  +  411248 Wed, 29 Aug 07 07:08 PM I will have to agree with Tanit here.  Both sentences make sense and have meaning, they are just asking slightly different questions. In the first sentence, "Please explain to me what the sentence means," I hear someone wanting to know what the sentence means - in general. In the second sentence, "Please explain what the sentence means to me," I hear someone wanting to know what it should mean to them specifically, "what should it tell me" ... I could ask, "Explain (to me) what 'car' means."  The answer would be, "a vehicle moving on wheels," according to Merriam-Webster. Then, to be asked, "Explain what 'car' means to me."  I would say, car means freedom, or a way for me to get to work and back. Hope this is of some help to you! -TeeShane TeeShane Joined on Wed, Aug 29 2007 New Member 02

	Feebs11  +  411296 Wed, 29 Aug 07 08:49 PM  User_gary wrote: Please explain to me what the sentence means. Please explain what the sentence means to me. Which one is correct? They are both grammatically correct. The first tells is asking for an explanation to be given to you about the content of the sentence. The second is asking for an explanation of what you feel about the sentence. Feebs11 Joined on Thu, Nov 23 2006 UK Veteran Member 5,015