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Azz Posted 11 years ago
Grammar
A lot of things
a. They do not understand a lot of things about me.
Doesn't this sentence have two meanings?
1. There are a lot of things about me they do not understand.
2. It is not true that they understand a lot of things about me.
I think in spoken language the difference would be clear because the emphasis would be different in each case.
(1) and (2) are close in meaning, and yet there is a difference between them. (1) does not exclude the possibility that there are a lot of things that they do understand about me! There are a lot of things they do understand about me and a lot of other things they do not understand about me!
Many thanks.
Doesn't this sentence have two meanings?
1. There are a lot of things about me they do not understand.
2. It is not true that they understand a lot of things about me.
I think in spoken language the difference would be clear because the emphasis would be different in each case.
(1) and (2) are close in meaning, and yet there is a difference between them. (1) does not exclude the possibility that there are a lot of things that they do understand about me! There are a lot of things they do understand about me and a lot of other things they do not understand about me!
Many thanks.
Top answer
In my opinion, your sentence can only be interpreted as 1#. The sentence allows for the possibility that they still understand some things about you (but this is implicitly said/written).
- In my opinion, your sentence can only be interpreted as 1#.
- The sentence allows for the possibility that they still understand some things about you (but this is implicitly said/written).
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1 Answers
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In my opinion, your sentence can only be interpreted as 1#.
The sentence allows for the possibility that they still understand some things about you (but this is implicitly said/written).
The sentence allows for the possibility that they still understand some things about you (but this is implicitly said/written).
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