Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Chan-Seung Lee]

[CP]

1. After him, many others from Africa went on to be the best runners.
--Means that many others became the best runners -- one at a time, of course. Logical and perfectly good to say.

2. After him, many others from Africa went on being the best runners.
--Means that many others continued to be the best runners. Not logical and not what anyone would say.
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[Chan-Seung Lee]

CP, thanks for your help.

Sorry but I cannot exactly understand why 'many others continued to be the best runners.' is not logical.

To make my question clear, I made the other examples in which I used 'go on', which is as follows. Could you tell me what the examples mean and if they are correct?


1.He went on to study law at Harvard.
2.He went on studying law at Harvard.
3.He went on to sleep after the alarm went off.
4.He went on sleeping after the alarm went off.

Thanks.

[CP]

Sorry but I cannot exactly understand why 'many others continued to be the best runners.' is not logical.
--There is only one best runner. After the first one, others from Africa became the best, each in his own time. But many runners cannot continue to be the best, because that would mean that several runners were the best all at the same time, and all but one (the first) continued to be the best.

1. He went on to study law at Harvard.
--He left this podunk town and went to Harvard, where he studied law. His life went forward, and he progressed from here to somewhere else. That's the usual meaning of the construction.

2. He went on studying law at Harvard.
--He was studying law at Harvard, and he continued to do so. The action that is being talked about continued. Maybe something terrible happened, like losing a girlfriend or getting hooked on drugs, but this guy still kept studying law at Harvard.

3. He went on to sleep after the alarm went off.
--You would not say this.

4. He went on sleeping after the alarm went off.
--After the alarm clock rang, he continued to sleep.
_________________
You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb