Teacher Discussion Forums

(1) I got married when I left abroad.

Is there anything wrong with this sentence?

José

Metamorfose wrote:(1) I got married when I left abroad.

Is there anything wrong with this sentence?

José

For me (American English) it doesn't sound right. Did you mean you got married while you were abroad or before you went abroad? I have trouble with the "I left abroad" part.

Although 'abroad' can be used as a mass noun (NODE: 'foreign countries considered collectively'), it is mainly used as an adverb, and it would be more helpful here if the speaker mentioned the specific country he or she had left (in order to get married and/or as a celebration of leaving there?!), or better still, the country where the marriage actually took place; witholding such information is a bit odd.

We got married when...we left China/were back in/returned to the UK (who wants to get married in China? It has quite strict and strange laws about it, from what I've heard).
We got married in Hawaii (tropical island paradise)
We got married in Vegas (very quick and convenient for people as in love as we were - we got divorced two weeks later)
?We got married when we went to Italy (was it a spur-of-the-moment thing whilst holidaying in Florence, or something?!).
?A: We got married abroad. B: Really? Where?

The actual example from the NODE is: servicemen returning from abroad. I suppose that could generally still apply to American, and perhaps to British personnel, but you'd probably be more likely to hear, 'US servicemen returning from Iraq' at the moment.

You can "go abroad" or "be abroad," but you can't "leave abroad."

This sentence popped up in a test and we've been squabbling over it in the staffroom since then.


Lorikeet

For me (American English) it doesn't sound right. Did you mean you got married while you were abroad or before you went abroad? I have trouble with the "I left abroad" part.

Actually it meant "I got married after I left the foreign country and returned home", I haven't realised how ambiguous it is.

fluffyhamster

Although 'abroad' can be used as a mass noun (NODE: 'foreign countries considered collectively'), it is mainly used as an adverb, and it would be more helpful here if the speaker mentioned the specific country he or she had left (in order to get married and/or as a celebration of leaving there?!), or better still, the country where the marriage actually took place; witholding such information is a bit odd.

Great explanation! I really didn't know that 'abroad' could be mass noun; I've searched a Collins and a Cambridge and haven't found the entry as noun, we first thought that the pupil had written 'abroad' because its Portuguese counterpart is fairly and loosely used as adverb and noun and somehow it valided our opinion.

José

As Tara has pointed out, you can 'go' or 'be abroad', to which the NODE has added 'return from abroad'; then, there are obviously things such as 'live or study abroad'. One thing that is almost certainly unattested however is 'leave abroad' (I should've explicitly said this wasn't correct English).

Or maybe it could be explained that semantically abroad is a destination rather than a starting point

Hmm, a bit tricky, that formulation, sean, because there are examples such as the NODE one above (servicemen with home as a destination and abroad as a starting point, at least on this leg of their round trip). If semantic labels were to apply, maybe something as simple as 'There and back again' would do.

seriously. "i got married while returning home" might work.
actually, it sounds like an old timer cigar smoking comedian working off the difference between abroad being a foreign country, and
a broad being a slighting femimine term. if he just got married he better have left that other one!