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Azz Posted 23 years ago
Grammar
Didn't
-What were you supposed to do that you didn't do?
1-I didn't read the letter and I didn't talk to John.
2-I didn't read the letter and talk to John.
Do 1 and 2 mean exactly the same in this context?
1-I didn't read the letter and I didn't talk to John.
2-I didn't read the letter and talk to John.
Do 1 and 2 mean exactly the same in this context?
Top answer
In the first one, you were supposed to read the letter and talk to John, but you didn't do ANY of both. The second one is wrong because of time concordance. It could have been: I didn't read the letter and talked to John.
- In the first one, you were supposed to read the letter and talk to John, but you didn't do ANY of both.
- The second one is wrong because of time concordance.
- It could have been: I didn't read the letter and talked to John.
- (= you didn't read the letter but you sure talked to John) Those sentences are not equivalent.
- Compare: I didn't either read the letter or talk to John.
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1 Answers
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In the first one, you were supposed to read the letter and talk to John, but you didn't do ANY of both.
The second one is wrong because of time concordance. It could have been:
I didn't read the letter and talked to John.
(= you didn't read the letter but you sure talked to John)
Those sentences are not equivalent. Compare:
I didn't either read the l
The second one is wrong because of time concordance. It could have been:
I didn't read the letter and talked to John.
(= you didn't read the letter but you sure talked to John)
Those sentences are not equivalent. Compare:
I didn't either read the l
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