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 Mon Jun 02, 2008 11:03 am Explain this type of sentence: I was asked to call you. |
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| Quote: | | You should be clearer what you mean by "standard usage"? |
Should I? Your meaning of "standard" would be "common", right?
| Quote: | | And correct in what sense? as a chunk, as in use of I. |
Or in use of we/they/Stew, etc call you.
| Quote: | | but I may if he wanted to sound natural in a region that uses this. |
You should be clearer what you mean by "sound natural"?  |
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Molly
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| Mon Jun 02, 2008 22:42 pm Explain this type of sentence: I was asked to call you. |
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| Molly wrote: | B: Mrs P? I was asked to call you
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| Molly wrote: |
<quote from Jane Austen>
Any necessity or obligation attached there?
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"To ask someone to do something" involves a request. Naturally a request may sometimes involve an element of "obligation". But equally, it may not.
MrP |
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MrPedantic
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| Mon Jun 02, 2008 22:50 pm Explain this type of sentence: I was asked to call you. |
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| I think Mr P missed the "necessity" bit. |
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Molly
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| Mon Jun 02, 2008 23:05 pm Explain this type of sentence: I was asked to call you. |
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| Molly wrote: | I didn't find any, which tells me that "was asked to call" is not very popular at all (as with most passives).
Google says:
15 English pages for "was asked to call you".
756 English pages for "asked me to call you".
So, my tool and Google helped confirm something at least.
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Let us again consult the Great Oracle of Delph:
Could I borrow your <adj.> highlighter?
How odd. Not a single hit. And the BNC is similarly deficient.
Perhaps we should try some photocopying instead:
Have you finished with the photocopier?
No answer again. Nor at the BNC. Well, maybe I should just run off some copies on the printer. But wait a minute...
What's the matter with this printer?
Uh oh.
It's run out of A4.
Well, your tool and Google helped to confirm something at least: borrowing yellow highlighters, using the photocopier, having printer problems and running out of A4 are not very common at all. In fact, they never happen.
MrP |
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MrPedantic
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| Mon Jun 02, 2008 23:20 pm Explain this type of sentence: I was asked to call you. |
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| Quote: | | Well, your tool and Google helped to confirm something at least: borrowing yellow highlighters, using the photocopier, having printer problems and running out of A4 are not very common at all. In fact, they never happen. |
If you want the whole thing and not just the part that helps you generate many sentences, you might have to use the "The London-Lund Corpus of Spoken English".
Meanwhile, those of us who can figure out that the key unit here "Could I borrow your <adj.> + <noun>?" is "could I borrow" can also figure out that the "<adj.> + <noun> position could be filled by a large selection of words.
And, remember that I other of corpora:
HAS RUN OUT OF 73
IT 'S RUN OUT OF 1
http://www.americancorpus.org/ |
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Molly
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| Mon Jun 02, 2008 23:36 pm Explain this type of sentence: I was asked to call you. |
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| Molly wrote: | Meanwhile, those of us who can figure out that the key unit here "Could I borrow your <adj.> + <noun>?" is "could I borrow" can also figure out that the "<adj.> + <noun> position could be filled by a large selection of words.
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And yet your comments were based on the results for these specific phrases:
1. was asked to call
2. was asked to call you
3. asked me to call you
as opposed to "was asked to <verb>", etc. Interesting.
By the way, that was rather an unusual phrase:
Could be filled by a large selection of words.
Not probable or likely English, it seems. (Till Google indexes it, of course.)
MrP |
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MrPedantic
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| Mon Jun 02, 2008 23:38 pm Explain this type of sentence: I was asked to call you. |
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MR P seems a bit all over the place at the moment. Can anyone get him back on track?
Psst! Someone ask him who it was that claimed "Could be filled by a large selection of words" was likely or common, will you?.
| Quote: | Mr P said:
By the way, that was rather an unusual phrase:
Could be filled by a large selection of words.
Not probable or likely English, it seems. (Till Google indexes it, of course.) |
Is he losing the plot? Has he turned to desperate measures? |
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Molly
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| Tue Jun 03, 2008 22:52 pm Explain this type of sentence: I was asked to call you. |
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So, when it's a question of "could I borrow your yellow highlighter", you say:
| Molly wrote: | those of us who can figure out that the key unit here "Could I borrow your <adj.> + <noun>?" is "could I borrow" can also figure out that the "<adj.> + <noun> position could be filled by a large selection of words.
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But when it's a question of:
1. was asked to call
2. was asked to call you
3. asked me to call you
you search on the specific phrase.
Now why would that be, old chap?
MrP |
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MrPedantic
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| Tue Jun 03, 2008 22:58 pm Explain this type of sentence: I was asked to call you. |
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| If anyone knows what he's on about, please let us know. He's got himself all upset over nothing, again. |
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Molly
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| Tue Jun 03, 2008 23:12 pm Explain this type of sentence: I was asked to call you. |
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I'm always happy to clarify, old thing.
When it's a question of "could I borrow your yellow highlighter", you excuse the phrase's non-appearance on Google by saying:
| Molly wrote: | those of us who can figure out that the key unit here "Could I borrow your <adj.> + <noun>?" is "could I borrow" can also figure out that the "<adj.> + <noun> position could be filled by a large selection of words.
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But when it's a question of:
1. was asked to call
2. was asked to call you
3. asked me to call you
you search on the specific phrase, and state that the small number of hits means it's improbable.
Now why do you use two different methods for the same operation, old chap?
MrP |
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MrPedantic
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| Tue Jun 03, 2008 23:18 pm Explain this type of sentence: I was asked to call you. |
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| If Mr P clicks his red shoes together three times, "I was asked to call you by..." will become a major reality. |
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Molly
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| Tue Jun 03, 2008 23:27 pm Explain this type of sentence: I was asked to call you. |
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| Molly wrote: | | If Mr P clicks his red shoes together three times, "I was asked to call you by..." will become a major reality. |
I see you're still unable to answer the question.
MrP |
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MrPedantic
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Location: Southern England
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| Tue Jun 03, 2008 23:38 pm Explain this type of sentence: I was asked to call you. |
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| MrPedantic wrote: | | Molly wrote: | | If Mr P clicks his red shoes together three times, "I was asked to call you by..." will become a major reality. |
I see you're still unable to answer the question.
MrP |
On the subject of unavailable answers:
| Quote: | **MollyB's examples of "complicate" are all typos.
MrP **
How do you know that? |
The folks over there are still waiting. |
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Molly
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| Tue Jun 03, 2008 23:41 pm Explain this type of sentence: I was asked to call you. |
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| Molly wrote: | | If Mr P clicks his red shoes together three times, "I was asked to call you by..." will become a major reality. |
It seems to be a reality in Canada too:
MrP |
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MrPedantic
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| What does "thanks in anticipation" mean? | unreasonable large |
