return me the CD

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Itasan
Posts: 557
Joined: Wed Nov 05, 2003 8:22 am
Location: Yokohama, Japan

return me the CD

Post by Itasan » Thu Jan 26, 2006 1:49 am

1. He hasn't yet returned me the CD I lent him last month.

2. He hasn't yet returned the CD....

3. He hasn't yet returned the CD to me that....

Is the first sentence correct?

Thank you.
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tigertiger
Posts: 246
Joined: Sun Nov 13, 2005 9:42 am

Re: return me the CD

Post by tigertiger » Thu Jan 26, 2006 3:53 am

Itasan wrote:1. He hasn't yet returned me the CD I lent him last month.

2. He hasn't yet returned the CD....

3. He hasn't yet returned the CD to me that....

Is the first sentence correct?

Thank you.
to a BrE speaker, this sounds horrific. :P
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Lorikeet
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Post by Lorikeet » Thu Jan 26, 2006 9:32 am

Sounds bad to me too!
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sbourque
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Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 12:32 pm
Location: USA

Post by sbourque » Fri Jan 27, 2006 5:06 pm

And yet, if we use "give back" instead of "return", it's OK.

"He hasn't yet given me back the CD..."

Why is that? Is this just another of those "because that's the way it is" things?
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tigertiger
Posts: 246
Joined: Sun Nov 13, 2005 9:42 am

Post by tigertiger » Sat Jan 28, 2006 3:01 pm

sbourque wrote:And yet, if we use "give back" instead of "return", it's OK.

"He hasn't yet given me back the CD..."

Why is that? Is this just another of those "because that's the way it is" things?
If you don't split the 'give back'/'given back', it still sounds horriffic with 'me'.
If you split it and use 'me' it is still wrong.
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tigertiger
Posts: 246
Joined: Sun Nov 13, 2005 9:42 am

Re: return me the CD

Post by tigertiger » Sat Jan 28, 2006 3:03 pm

Itasan wrote:
3. He hasn't yet returned the CD to me that .


Would be better with a comma
He hasn't yet returned the CD to me, that I lent him last month.
IMHO
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Amy_H
Posts: 53
Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2005 8:06 pm
Location: New England

Re: return me the CD

Post by Amy_H » Sat Apr 01, 2006 6:50 pm

tigertiger wrote: Would be better with a comma
He hasn't yet returned the CD to me, that I lent him last month.
IMHO
No comma! :shock:

I would prefer to eliminate the words "to me" completely (as in example #2):
He hasn't yet returned the CD (that) I lent him last month.

The idea of "to me" is already understood in the sentence (thanks to the "I lent him last month" clause) and "to me" is therefore completely and utterly unnecessary. The word "that" is optional.

IMHO :wink:

Regards
Amy
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Itasan
Posts: 557
Joined: Wed Nov 05, 2003 8:22 am
Location: Yokohama, Japan

return me the CD

Post by Itasan » Thu Apr 13, 2006 8:46 am

Thank you very much, everybody.
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