wife/girlfriend...advance/further

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Anonymous

#520926 Fri, 30 May 08 03:43 PM

yes

Anonymous

Pter

#520932 Fri, 30 May 08 03:54 PM

optilang
I can't see anything wrong with - All/some employees of this company were recruited through an agent.

Yes, that's what I said so. The point is, if we take the past point of view and use "girlfriend", this sentence would need to be changed to "All applicants of this company were recruited through an agent.", which is not OK. Taking the past point of view would disrupt the reference for determining which people we are talking about.

How can you re-write the following sentence by NOT calling them "our employees" just because they were not yet employees before they were recruited by the company?

We recruited our employees through an agent.

I can't imagine how this is possible.

Pter

Joined on Wed, Nov 28 2007

Hong Kong

Full Member (428)

Yoong Liat

#520978 Fri, 30 May 08 06:03 PM

Hi Barbara

Aren't we saying the same thing? 'I married my wife' isn't correct. More context is needed.

' I married my wife in 2000' is fine. I agree.

What I did was to emphasise that more context is needed,

Yoong Liat

Joined on Mon, Sep 4 2006

Singapore

Veteran Member (6,085)

Yoong Liat

Pter

#520980 Fri, 30 May 08 06:11 PM

I wouldn't say "I married my wife" is incorrect. It is just incomplete.

Why I married my wife?

I married my wife because ....

It is not necessary to have a specific date or reference to any event in the past.

Pter

Dates

New2grammar

#520981 Fri, 30 May 08 06:14 PM

Peter, I have to say your explanation is good. Thanks for your reply.

New2grammar

Joined on Tue, Nov 21 2006

Veteran Member (7,676)

Who wants to go sailing around the world with me?

Yoong Liat

#520984 Fri, 30 May 08 06:25 PM

Pter
I wouldn't say "I married my wife" is incorrect. It is just incomplete.

I agree. Whether you see it as incomplete or lacking in context, the fact is "I married my wife", as it stands, is not logical.

Yoong Liat

english maven

#521003 Fri, 30 May 08 07:03 PM

As I stated, maybe you didn't read it thoroughly, it's just my pickiness. I'm not - at all - saying it's incorrect by the rules of English, just my personal opinion.

(This response is directed to Goodman.)

english maven

Joined on Thu, May 29 2008

United States

New Member (15)

Goodman

#521026 Fri, 30 May 08 08:01 PM

Hi Optilang,

<<< I can see nothing wrong with either of the following (only when modified as follows): He married his girlfriend in 2005 who is now his wife.

To me, the logic of the context is more important than which one is correct. Either "he married his wife /^girlfriend" withoutthe supporting context, it's meaning is incomplete.

Goodman

Joined on Mon, Nov 7 2005

Calif. USA

Senior Member (3,243)

The name says it all!

Goodman

#521059 Fri, 30 May 08 09:30 PM

english maven

I'm not - at all - saying it's incorrect by the rules of English,
(This response is directed to Goodman.)

Dear EM,
Your message is well taken. I can appreciate your especially delivered response. I sort of expected it that when I tossed in my two cents.
Perhaps it's because of my non-native origin, I had to pay extra attention to learning all the nitty-gritty aspects of English. From years of studies, I have learned that good and sensible English is governed, not only by grammar but also by logic and context, not by pickiness. Having said that, I’d like to clarify if this is in fact what you meant in your earlier post “Personally, for me, I find it incorrect usage”. That’s all!

Goodman

Grammar

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