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secjill
Joined: 02 Jul 2007
Posts: 51
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 Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2008 12:14 am Post subject: which goes first, time or place? |
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Hi teachers,
This is a very simple question but I'm a little bit confused.
#1 I studied Spanish in Madrid in 2005
#2 I studied Spanish in 2005 in Madrid
Which sentence is more natural?
Thanks a lot |
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EnglishRaven
Joined: 04 Jan 2008
Posts: 71
Location: Changwon Korea and Melbourne Australia
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| Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 9:58 am Post subject: |
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Neither is more natural than the other, technically.
It would really depend on the context of the utterance. This would indicate which aspect (place or time) was more important to mention first.
Example:
A - I started studying Spanish in 2005.
B - Really? I studied Spanish in 2005 in Madrid.
A - Madrid? Oh, I was here in England when I started. I didn't go to Spain until 2007. Where were you then?
B - Me? I was learning English in Manchester in 2007.
Can you see how the conversation/context is manipulating the order of the information? This is not entirely a natural style of conversation - I've manipulated it to demonstrate the two positions based on different prompts or lead ins.
Whichever feels natural to mention first in a conversation (the time or the place) could come first in the sentence.
Cheers,
- Jason
_________________
http://www.onlinEnglish.net
http://global-english.lefora.com |
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secjill
Joined: 02 Jul 2007
Posts: 51
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| Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 6:31 pm Post subject: |
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| Thanks a million, Englishraven, for your clear explanation. |
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