Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[dido4]

Here is the question:

The dog the bone in his mouth and ran away.

(A) held (B) took

Q1:To express that the dog held (I don't know wether the word is right or not)in the mouth(Not ate it), Which answer is right?

Q2:If both of them are ok, are there any differences between these two?

Thank you.

[MrPedantic]

Hello Dido

1. The dog took the bone in his mouth and ran away.

This means that the dog picked up the bone from somewhere, or took the bone from someone. The bone was in the dog's mouth when the dog ran away.

2. The dog held the bone in his mouth and ran away.

Here, we can only say that the bone was in the dog's mouth when the dog ran away.

So both express the fact that the bone was in the dog's mouth when the dog ran away, and that the dog wasn't eating the bone at that point. However, in #1, we are shown the earlier point in the story where the dog acquired the bone.

MrP