Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[b7lake]

(1)You're entirely wrong.
You're entirely in the wrong.
Do both sentences have the same meaning?

(2)He graduated from university.
He graduated from the university.
Does the second sentence with 'the' have a different meaning?

(3)I really don't know about it.
I don't really know about it.
Which sentence is correct?
(I'm confused about the position of an adverb in the negative sentence.)

I'd appreciate your help.

[Anuradha Chepur]

(1) Yes.

(2) He graduated (from the university).

You might want to mention the name of the university than saying just university, because that's where people graduate from, so it would sound redundant.

(3) Both are correct.

[redset]

I'm going to weigh in here a little

1) Being 'in the wrong' usually means you've done something you shouldn't have, in the sense of 'right and wrong'. If you copy someone's work then you're in the wrong, even if the answers are actually correct! If something bad happens, and you're entirely in the wrong then it's entirely your fault.

Being 'wrong' usually means you're incorrect about something - it's good if you hand in your own work, but the answers can still be wrong! If you're entirely wrong about something then you're incorrect, about everything. A child could say that 'the moon is a small cube made of green cheese', and that child would be entirely wrong - the moon isn't small, it's HUGE; it's basically a sphere not a cube; it's not green; and it's not made of cheese. Every bit of what that child said is wrong, so the kid is entirely wrong. It's not really important though, so we wouldn't say the child is in the wrong

2) Like Anuradha said, using the means you're referring to a specific university, a particular institution. Just saying 'he graduated from university' means he passed through the university system and graduated - it's like saying 'he finished school'.

3) The position of really does make a difference here, in terms of tone. If you say 'I don't really know about it' then you're softening the fact you don't know, whereas 'I really don't know' is emphatic about the fact you don't know.

Another way to look at it is like this: really is used to make things more emphatic, if something is 'really good' then it's not just good - it's very good. If you really know something, then you have very good or very strong knowledge of it. So if you don't really know know something, you're saying that you don't have very good knowledge about something. You might know a little, but not a lot. See how it softens the meaning, because it's included in the part that's made negative?

'I know about it' simply means that you know something on the subject - it's not particularly emphatic, it's just a neutral statement. Making it a negative ('I don't know about it') uses the same tone, you're basically saying 'I don't have knowledge of this'. Adding really before this clause serves to make it more emphatic: 'I really don't know about it' doesn't just mean you don't have knowledge of something, it means you absolutely don't have any knowledge of it. You're emphasising the negative aspect.