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yoshi-pooh
Joined: 04 May 2006
Posts: 195
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 Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 8:25 pm Post subject: The meaning of the sentence |
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Hi, everyone!
I have a problem with interpreting the sentence below.
Tom had Jane killed by an assassin.
Grammatically, I think there are two possible interpretations.
1. Tom wanted Jane to die, so he had an assassin kill her.
2. An assassin killed Tom's precious Jane.
I'd really appreciate your advice.
yoshi-pooh |
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Nef
Joined: 27 Nov 2005
Posts: 187
Location: California, USA
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| Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 9:39 pm Post subject: |
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I think your first interpretation is correct.
Tom was responsible for getting an assassin to kill Jane. |
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2006
Joined: 27 Nov 2006
Posts: 610
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| Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 9:42 pm Post subject: Re: The meaning of the sentence |
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| yoshi-pooh wrote: |
Tom had Jane killed by an assassin.
Grammatically, I think there are two possible interpretations.
1. Tom wanted Jane to die, so he had an assassin kill her.
2. An assassin killed Tom's precious Jane.
yoshi-pooh |
Only #1 is correct.
"Tom had Jane killed......" means that Tom asked or ordered someone to kill Jane.
If you want to mean #2, say #2. |
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yoshi-pooh
Joined: 04 May 2006
Posts: 195
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| Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 3:57 am Post subject: |
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Hi, everyone!
Nef, 2006, thank you for your replies.
The reason why I asked the question was that I just happened to see a sentence like below.
"Otto Frank had his family killed by Hitler. One of them was Anne Frank..."
I'm not sure if this is a correct sentence written by an English native speaker, but if it is correct, does it mean " Otto had Hitler kill his family"?
Thank you!
yoshi-pooh |
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2006
Joined: 27 Nov 2006
Posts: 610
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| Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 11:21 am Post subject: |
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| yoshi-pooh wrote: |
"Otto Frank had his family killed by Hitler. One of them was Anne Frank..."
I'm not sure if this is a correct sentence written by an English native speaker, but if it is correct, does it mean " Otto had Hitler kill his family"?
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That is what it should mean. Otherwise it should say, Otto Frank's family was killed by Hitler.
Apparently the second sentence, the one I wrote, represents the historical truth. So the sentence that you found is not a good sentence, because it is misleading. |
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yoshi-pooh
Joined: 04 May 2006
Posts: 195
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| Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 2:49 pm Post subject: |
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Hi, everyone.
2006, Thanks again for your reply. I really appreciate it.
It seems like I'm obsessed with the "have+noun+ past participle" form, but let me ask one more qusetion on this.
Looking back on the replies to my questions, I've started having second thought about saying, "I had my bike stolen" to mean "My bike was stolen."
What do you think about this?
yoshi-pooh |
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2006
Joined: 27 Nov 2006
Posts: 610
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| Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 3:21 pm Post subject: |
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| Saying "My bike was stolen." is the correct way to say it and leaves no room for misunderstanding. Also, it is very basic simple English, and you should use the simplest English that can express your meaning. |
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