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Belly Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

And?

Harry hardly does pay his bill on time, and his sister does too.

What is the matter with this sentence? Can you explain it to me?
  

Top answer

Hi, Harry hardly does pay his bill on time, and his sister does too What is the matter with this sentence? Can you explain it to me? The problems with this sentence are in the area of usage more than the area of grammar.

— Clive

  • Hi, Harry hardly does pay his bill on time, and his sister does too What is the matter with this sentence?
  • Can you explain it to me?
  • The problems with this sentence are in the area of usage more than the area of grammar.
  • There seems to be no reason to say 'does pay' rather than 'pays'.
  • The Simple Present suggests we are discussing Harry's habits, so i wonder if the plural 'bills' would be more appropriate.
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19 Answers
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Hi,

Harry hardly does pay his bill on time, and his sister does too

What is the matter with this sentence? Can you explain it to me?

The problems with this sentence are in the area of usage more than the area of grammar.

There seems to be no reason to say 'does pay' rather than 'pays'.

The Simple
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Well, Clive, the original sentence is Harry hardly pays his bill on time, and his sister does too

You are right.

They direct the wrong thing is "does too" here,I dunno why
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Hi,
I think it's because "hardly", "barely", etc., are like negative words, so you'd need "and his sister doesn't either"... Emotion: smile
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But, how about this sentence:

You can have an orange, and you can't have an apple, too
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Hi,

how about this sentence:

You can have an orange, and you can't have an apple, too

No, this doesn't work.

You can have an orange, but you can't have an apple.

Clive
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It does, if you have a "Practical English Usage" of Micheal Swan (Third edition) the 48th entry, you will come up with this sentence
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BellyIt does, if you have a "Practical English Usage" of Micheal Swan (Third edition) the 48th entry, you will come up with this sentence
I agree with Clive. Usually that sentence would need the word 'but'. Does Swan describe the context in which he thinks that particular sentence would be valid (and is that a word-for-word sentence from the book?)
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CliveNo, this doesn't work.

You can have an orange, but you can't have an apple.
Hey, hold on a sec, I just asked this in another thread... Jim said those structures are ok! (even though it depends on the context).

You can have large fries, but you can't have apple pie too. If you also want some apple pie, you'll have to pay e
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Kooyeen, Clive is suggesting the "but you can't have" as an acceptable alternative to "and you can't have."
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