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rice07
Joined: 26 Oct 2007
Posts: 385
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 Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 2:38 am Post subject: You were a little frightened is all. |
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Hi
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"I just wanted to thank you for your help," I said as I got on the line. "I'm sorry if I was rude in our living room the other night."
"What makes you think you were rude? You were a little frightened is all. I don't think 'rude' is part of your makeup. Anyway, let me tell you about your grandmother. She is suffering from atrial fibrillation, but given the options, that's not such bad news." |
I need your help with a confirmation whether it's a common expression in spoken English that we consider, in this case, 'You were a little frightened ' a noun clause served as the subject and 'is' the verb of the sentence above printed in bold? Many thanks in advance!
Sincerely
rice |
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dragn
Joined: 17 Feb 2009
Posts: 450
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| Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 6:03 am Post subject: |
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| I need your help with a confirmation whether it's a common expression in spoken English that we consider, in this case, 'You were a little frightened ' a noun clause served as the subject and 'is' the verb of the sentence above printed in bold? Many thanks in advance! |
It is fairly common in spoken English, but I wouldn't interpret it the way you are. "You were a little frightened" is not a noun phrase being used as the subject. I can understand why it might appear that way, but it's not.
In conversation, this is exactly the same as saying:
You were a little frightened, that's all.
You were a little frightened, nothing more.
I'm sure there's a fancy, grammatical way to explain this, but in this case the phrase is all is essentially just something tacked on to the end of a sentence that serves to minimize the severity or impact of something negative in a reassuring manner. When spoken, it receives little stress. It's spoken as if it were attached to the sentence with a comma, but it is often written without one.
Greg |
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rice07
Joined: 26 Oct 2007
Posts: 385
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| Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 6:11 am Post subject: |
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Thank YOU Greg! Now I got it.    |
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