Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[BMO]

He acquired a collection of fine porcelain. Is ACQUIRED the same as collected here?

Thanks.

bmo

[toe]

i understand it to mean that he either bought an entire collection of porcelain from an auction, or he inherited this collection from someone in his family, or someone gave it to him.

"collection of fine porcelain"---it's implied that the fine porcelain was already collected previously. so, "acquired" would mean that he just "got" the collection from somewhere. he didn't have to do any collecting himself.

"he was bequeathed a collection of fine porcelain."
"he inherited a collection of fine porcelain."
"he won a collection of fine porcelain from an ebay auction."

i hope i haven't confused things.
toe

[BMO]

Thanks. Let's do this:

He acquired many fine porcelain.
He collected many fine porcelain.

Are these trhe same?

Also:

Is acquisition always about things? You can't acquire a new employee or his new acquisition is a young woman?

bmo

[Bob S.]

[bud]

Your new sentences, with Bob's corrections, are the same.

... But aren't a new employeee and a young woman things, in a sense? Usually when we talk about an acquisition in romance, we are talking more about a sex object (thing) than a true love.

[BMO]

Thanks to Bob S. That is not a nit pick, I even did not see it when I first saw it. Now I do. You can't use MANY here.

Okay, acquisition is about things or THAT when you are talking about a human. Thanks Bud.

BMO

[toe]