Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

LuciesHo · Joined: 05 Dec 2006 Posts: 4

I still couldn't focus on them

or

I couldn't still focus on them

Anuradha Chepur · Joined: 20 May 2006 Posts: 933

Both are fine.

2006 · Joined: 27 Nov 2006 Posts: 610

However, the meanings are different.

"I still couldn't focus on them." suggests a meaning like you couldn't focus on them a week ago and yesterday you still couldn't focus on them.

"I couldn't still focus on them." suggests a meaning like you could focus on them a week ago but by yesterday couldn't continue to focus on them.

Anuradha Chepur · Joined: 20 May 2006 Posts: 933

I don't see any difference in meaning, which could be extremely subtle, if at all. And I tend not to over-teach or over-correct.
But then , that's only my personal style.

2006 · Joined: 27 Nov 2006 Posts: 610

The difference in meaning is very real. (I just added some underlining to make the difference in meaning stand out more)

It's not a matter of "over-correcting".

Mary W. Ng · Joined: 26 Jun 2006 Posts: 261

Anuradha Chepur · Joined: 20 May 2006 Posts: 933

What you point out is a structural difference, which needn't neccessarily result in a difference in meaning.
Sometimes a change in the position of the adverb doesn't make any change in the meaning.

Carefully she poured the tea.
She carefully poured the tea.
She poured the tea carefully.

Still I couldn't focus on them.
I couldn't focus on them still.
I still couldn't focus on them.
I couldn't still focus on them.

At a gross level they are all interchangeable.

2006 · Joined: 27 Nov 2006 Posts: 610

Anuradha Chepur

You leave me no choice but to put it very bluntly.

If you can't see the difference in meaning between the two sentences in question, your understanding of English is not very good.

lotus · Joined: 25 Jan 2004 Posts: 862

Hi,

The difference in meaning is subtle, but real.

Frustrated video photographer comments during live shoot at a pet show:

situation: The subject's pet kept moving.
No matter how I tried, I still couldn't focus on the dog.

situation: The subject's pet threw up.
Because of the mess; I couldn't still focus on the dog, I had to focus on the master instead.

The two phrases are not interchangeable for the two situations. One emphasizes frustrated inability. The other, frustrated lack of choice (forced decision).

--lotus
_________________
War does not make one great --Yoda

myprofe · Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 2:20 am Post subject: over teach?

LuciesHo · Joined: 05 Dec 2006 Posts: 4

as title,
thank for you,
i will choose the best one to correct my article...

Anuradha Chepur · Joined: 20 May 2006 Posts: 933

2006,

All it takes is an internet connection to be blunt on a public forum.

CP · Joined: 12 Jun 2006 Posts: 2875 Location: California

Dr. Chepur answered the question posed, "Which one is correct?" I would agree with Ms. Ng and 2006, that both are correct but there is a difference in meaning, though subtle. LuciesHo didn't ask about meaning.

I don't think it's a disservice to the students to answer the question posed without adding something -- though I am guilty of going way beyond the question most of the time -- so I don't see why Myprofe is chiding Dr. Chepur.

And I think 2006 does have a choice whether to insult another poster. Can't we have a difference in opinion without casting aspersions?
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

2006 · Joined: 27 Nov 2006 Posts: 610

It's not a matter of opinion; it's a matter of fact, and sometimes being blunt seems to be the only way to 'convince' someone.
I didn't come here looking for someone to insult but Ms Chepur kept denying any real difference in meaning.

Maybe LuciesHo didn't ask about meaning because she didn't consider
that there might be a difference in meaning. Responding to the initial
post without pointing out the difference in meaning is misleading and a disservice, in my opinion.

Hopefully, I will have no more to say about this topic.

myprofe · Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 8:24 am Post subject: Correct Always

I taught English to Spaniards for 20 years in a well known language school in the center of Madrid. Every day the foreign students had 4 to 6 hours of Spanish class while the Spanish students had one hour of English.

There was one particular Spanish teacher that I will never forget. He was the only one that corrected me when I spoke to him in Spanish. At first it annoyed me because we weren�t in class and I wasn�t one of his students but later I realized that he was right and that the days that he didn�t correct me I knew that what I had said to him was correct.

Mistakes that go uncorrected eventually become impossible to correct. He was a real teacher, 24 hours a day.
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I'm never going to learn if you don't correct my mistakes!