He hates me, let alone talks to me ???

Question

Is this sentence correct/possible? --&gt; He hates me, let alone talks to me.I have a doubt as I've never seen this type of sentence, that uses "let alone", and has only one verb in front and one verb in the back.For example, I might only see He doesn't like me, let alone talk to me. In every example I find, it is always used with multiple verbs at a time, never one verb at a time.So is the sentence "He hates me, let alone talks to me." possible? and if it is, did I correctly use the verbs?

Persian Learner · Accepted Answer

Eren8hisfatherSo is the sentence "He hates me, let alone talks to me." possible?

The sentence is not very natural, but, grammatically speaking, I think it should be subjunctive mood, e.g.,

He hates me, let alone help me.

That he hates you is a fact, but the act of 'helping' is sort of imaginary, so you can't put it in the third-person singular.

CalifJim · Answer

Eren8hisfatherSo is the sentence "He hates me, let alone talks to me" possible? and if it is, did I correctly use the verbs?

Yes, but it is extremely, extremely rare. I scoured through 40 pages of results on fraze.it for this grammatical pattern, and I found only this one example:

Hardly anybody notices, let alone covets it.

In the hundreds of examples I examined of the 'let alone' pattern, there is almost always an infinitive construction, a negation, or something else in the sentence before the 'let alone' part that causes the choice of some inflection on the following verb other than the -s of the present simple.

In general, the verb form after 'let alone' matches the verb form before 'let alone'. In the next example, 'swing' implies 'to swing'.

It's difficult to raise the bat to shoulder level, let alone swing it.

In the next example 'answer' implies 'can answer'. Here the modal verb 'can' determines the form of 'answer'.

The book provokes many more questions than it can explore, let alone answer.

CJ

Edit: So much for the grammar, but as for the logic of the sentence, see anonymous's reply. CJ

Anonymous · Answer

Eren8hisfatherIs this sentence correct/possible? --> He hates me, let alone talks to me.

It is not correct. It's possible if the speaker doesn't care what he says.

Eren8hisfatherFor example, I might only see He doesn't like me, let alone talk to me. In every example I find, it is always used with multiple verbs at a time, never one verb at a time.

That's not right, either. There has to be a similarity, a sequence, a buildup. "Like" and "talk" are not similar and do not create a sequence. It has to be something like "He doesn't acknowledge me, let alone talk to me." You are trying to say he doesn't talk to you, and you raise his behavior up a notch for the first part, which subsumes the second part.

Anonymous · Answer

Eren8hisfatherHe doesn't like me, let alone talk to me. This structure is correct and very common.

He can't even afford an apartment, let alone buy a new car.
He hates me, let alone talks to me. Grammatically it is correct and understood, but the first part of the sentence has a positive structure with a negative verb "hate" so in that sense it goes against the typical " negative +let alone" formation. This would be ok: He hates me, let alone like me.

Anonymous · Answer

Eren8hisfather"He hates me, let alone talks to me."

Good catch! My carelessness! Usually the "let alone" structure is composed of by a negation followed by the "let alone" phrase. He couldn't even hang a picture on the wall,, let alone fix the leak in the toilet.

The example I presented had no auxiliary, however, the parallel structure still should be maintained.

i.e. Hates / Likes.

He hates me, let alone talks to me ???

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions