ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: how?

Taka — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 03:58:31 GMT

MrPedantic
I would agree that "how" in this sense can usually be construed as "that/the fact that".
MrP

Do you mean 'worry about how...' here is the same as 'worry that...'?

Re: how?

MrPedantic — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 23:38:33 GMT

I would agree that "how" in this sense can usually be construed as "that/the fact that".

MrP

Re: how?

Avangi — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:33:57 GMT

I think slightly different meanings are possible.

We worried about how she would probably go to jail.   (We worried about the fact that it is probable that she will go to jail.)

We worried that she would go to jail.   (We worried about the possibility of her going to jail.) (We were afraid she would go to jail.)

He explained how she was going to jail. (He told us that she was going to jail.)

He explained about how she was going to jail.   (He told us the circumstances surrounding the fact that she's going to jail.)

This is confusing. It didn't work out the way I intended.

I think sometimes "how" means "that" and sometimes it means "the way in which."

<We all worried about how losing her would mean losing our whole family.>   If you say, "We all worried that losing her would mean etc." it means, "We all were afraid that losing her would mean etc."

I think you mean, "We all knew for a fact that the result of losing her would be the loss of our whole family, and we were all worrying about it." I don't know if there's a better way to say it. Anyway, that's the sense I get of your original sentence with "how."

- A.

Re: how?

Taka — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:34:06 GMT

The same as 'that'!?

If so, then it is 'worried about that SV', which I think is kind of strange.

Or you think 'worried about how' is the same as 'worried that'?

Re: how?

Mister Micawber — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:38:33 GMT

.
How is a conjunction here.

HOW 15.Informal. that: He told us how he was honest and could be trusted.

And losing is spelt thus.

how?

Taka — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 05:24:50 GMT

We all worried about how losing her would mean loosing our whole family.

Why 'how' here? Why not something like this, instead?

We all worried about what losing her—which might be the same as losing our whole family— would mean.

Or is it that the they worried about this part in bold?

Losing here would mean loosing our whole family in a ... way.