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hiromichi · Joined: 12 Oct 2005 Posts: 1380

Are the two sentences below of the same meaning?

1. There was a box of them around here somewhere.
2. There was a box of them somewhere around here .
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Hiromichi

SimpleEnglishBlogger · Joined: 01 Feb 2011 Posts: 50 Location: Japan

Hmmm... Good question. They have the same general meaning but the focus is different.

1. You are standing in the corner of the room, looking for the box. You know it's in that general area, but not sure where. The emphasis is on "somewhere", which means you're emphasizing that you don't know where it is now. This is the area but WHERE?

2. Here, you are emphasizing the place, not the not knowing. You know it was HERE, in this general area but you're not sure where exactly. But it was somewhere around HERE. This is the place!
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hiromichi · Joined: 12 Oct 2005 Posts: 1380

SimpleEnglishBlogger:
I almost get it. Can we say stressed information precedes non-stressed one?
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Hiromichi

SimpleEnglishBlogger · Joined: 01 Feb 2011 Posts: 50 Location: Japan

Not necessarily. It depends on how the speaker says it.

Actually, I can read each sentence both ways to emphasize either the place or the not knowing.

There was a box of them around HERE somewhere.
There was a box of them around here SOMEwhere.

There was a box of them somewhere around HERE.
There was a box of them SOMEwhere around here.

I was just taking a best guess as to the speaker's intention but there really is no way to know which part is stressed.
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Visit www.sloweasyenglish.com for material to help you with your listening skills!

All of the videos are in SLOW and EASY ENGLISH so they are easy to understand and will help you improve your listening until you can watch regular movies and TV!

hiromichi · Joined: 12 Oct 2005 Posts: 1380

SimpleEnglishBlogger
Ｉ　ａｐｐｒｅｃｉａｔｅ　very much your analytical explanation.
I am very happy that I encountered with a nice teacher like you.
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Hiromichi

SimpleEnglishBlogger · Joined: 01 Feb 2011 Posts: 50 Location: Japan

My pleasure hiromichi. Check out my website for more (and be sure to spread the word haha)!
_________________
Visit www.sloweasyenglish.com for material to help you with your listening skills!

All of the videos are in SLOW and EASY ENGLISH so they are easy to understand and will help you improve your listening until you can watch regular movies and TV!