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Cho7712 Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
Confused
It seems just acceptable and purports to have no problem in a grammatical sense.
e.g. It took him 5minutes to fall asleep.
However in terms of linguistics, this sentence is marked as false.
Some material says it is the aspect that makes this sentence incorrect.
To fall asleep is one punctual event without any intentional pre-organized actions as usual,
and to take time is understood as having duration. So it brings about contradiction in meaning.
So far as is the key idea from a linguistic material.
And I think it is arguable to think this sentence as not possible.
My opinion is the acceptability of this sentence depends on how you look at the meaning of 'take'.
Based on the idea that 'he' is not given the agent role, one event(to fall asleep) which is instantaneous is considered as having no relation with the other event which might have existed before the puctual event happened.
Since there is no agent who can control the whole event defined by '5 minutes',
it is inferred to have a following paraphrase ; Whatever he had done in the past 5 minutes, it totally had not to do with the event of falling asleep. It was just 5minutes that had gone past before the sudden change of state took place.
More concisely, No causal chain here, As time went by in amount of 5minutes, He suddenly went into the state of sleep.
So to speak, After 5 minutes had been gone and at that moment he fell asleep.(No implicature such that he consumed the whole 5minutes to try to fall asleep.)
Does my argument make sense to you?
And plus, is it possible to think of this sentence as compatible with a following one?
'He fell asleep in 5mintues.'
Also, is it possible to say this sentence should have the same meaning as found in my opinion ?
e.g. It took him 5minutes to fall asleep.
However in terms of linguistics, this sentence is marked as false.
Some material says it is the aspect that makes this sentence incorrect.
To fall asleep is one punctual event without any intentional pre-organized actions as usual,
and to take time is understood as having duration. So it brings about contradiction in meaning.
So far as is the key idea from a linguistic material.
And I think it is arguable to think this sentence as not possible.
My opinion is the acceptability of this sentence depends on how you look at the meaning of 'take'.
Based on the idea that 'he' is not given the agent role, one event(to fall asleep) which is instantaneous is considered as having no relation with the other event which might have existed before the puctual event happened.
Since there is no agent who can control the whole event defined by '5 minutes',
it is inferred to have a following paraphrase ; Whatever he had done in the past 5 minutes, it totally had not to do with the event of falling asleep. It was just 5minutes that had gone past before the sudden change of state took place.
More concisely, No causal chain here, As time went by in amount of 5minutes, He suddenly went into the state of sleep.
So to speak, After 5 minutes had been gone and at that moment he fell asleep.(No implicature such that he consumed the whole 5minutes to try to fall asleep.)
Does my argument make sense to you?
And plus, is it possible to think of this sentence as compatible with a following one?
'He fell asleep in 5mintues.'
Also, is it possible to say this sentence should have the same meaning as found in my opinion ?
Top answer
Frankly, I do not have the patience to read through your argument, since I think it is counterproductive to the learning process. ' It took him 5 minutes to fall asleep' ; 'He fell asleep in 5 minutes' : both sentences are fine and natural and common.
- Frankly, I do not have the patience to read through your argument, since I think it is counterproductive to the learning process.
- ' It took him 5 minutes to fall asleep' ; 'He fell asleep in 5 minutes' : both sentences are fine and natural and common.
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2 Answers
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Frankly, I do not have the patience to read through your argument, since I think it is counterproductive to the learning process.
'It took him 5 minutes to fall asleep'; 'He fell asleep in 5 minutes': both sentences are fine and natural and common.
'It took him 5 minutes to fall asleep'; 'He fell asleep in 5 minutes': both sentences are fine and natural and common.
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Thanks for the reply.
Well,partially agreed, I usually turn to some stuff in which some people hardly find it to be worth considering or exploring.
But I am that kind of person who really find out something questionable completely. I am sorely aware that this attitude to learning can be like a poison sometimes.
However I still believe in this ; half knowledge is worse than ignorance.
Well,partially agreed, I usually turn to some stuff in which some people hardly find it to be worth considering or exploring.
But I am that kind of person who really find out something questionable completely. I am sorely aware that this attitude to learning can be like a poison sometimes.
However I still believe in this ; half knowledge is worse than ignorance.
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