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Mr. Tom Posted 12 years ago
Vocabulary

He sounded peeved about not being told.

Hi

Would you say that both of these sentences mean the same thing?

He sounded peeved about not being told.
He sounded peeved about having not being told.

Thanks,

Tom
  

Top answer

Mr. Tom Would you say that both of these sentences mean the same thing? In the first, it seems that he may not yet have been told; in the second, it seems that he now has been.

— Mister Micawber

  • Mr.
  • Tom Would you say that both of these sentences mean the same thing?
  • In the first, it seems that he may not yet have been told; in the second, it seems that he now has been.
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5 Answers
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Mr. TomWould you say that both of these sentences mean the same thing?
In the first, it seems that he may not yet have been told; in the second, it seems that he now has been.
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The second sentence is ungrammatical. This is correct: He sounded peeved about not having been told [about it].
The meaning is the same.

CB
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Cool BreezeThis is correct: He sounded peeved about not having been told
Yep. Missed that entirely!
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Thanks, MM and Cool Breeze.

That "being" in the second sentence was a typo.

...but aren't these structures the same?

He sounded peeved about having not been told.
He sounded peeved about not having been told.

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Mr. TomHe sounded peeved about having not been told.He sounded peeved about not having been told.
Well, of course the structures are not the same! But the meaning is. Native speakers normally front the negation as in the 2nd one, so that the 1st sounds a bit 'off' to me.
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