Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Marlen]

Dear teachers,

Is it correct to say: I live, suffer and hope with the main characters. ( of a book.)

Thank you so much in advance for your assistance.

Marlen

[Anuradha Chepur]

It is not clear to me what you want to say.

In any case, yours is a serial verb construction, incorrectly linked to a common preposition. The preposition that goes with 'suffer' is 'from'. 'hope' takes 'for', and 'live' in this context (which is not clear) takes 'with'.

Also you have to specify what you hope for with regard to the main characters.

[Anuradha Chepur]

An afterthought here:

If this sentence belongs to the author (as a personal comment), then it should be acceptable.

[Anuradha Chepur]

Hi again,

I am still thinking about your sentence.

Now I feel your sentence is acceptable even if it belongs to the reader.

In both situations, i.e., whether the author says it or the reader, it implies how involved s(he) is with the book and with the characters.

[LucentShade]