"I remember mentioning at least..."

Question

Hi, I'm a bit confused. Google returns only one hit for the phrase "remember mentioning at least". How can this be? To me, it sounds like a perfectly natural thing to say in contexts such as the one below:

Mr. A: "I bought that computer you were talking about the other day. It works great."

Mr. B: "Which one? I remember mentioning at least three different models."

Either I'm wrong... or Google is one of most inacurrate and unreliable search engines on the Web when it comes to checking grammar and syntax!

Optilang · Accepted Answer

MarvinTheMartianHi, I'm a bit confused. Google returns only one hit for the phrase "remember mentioning at least". How can this be? To me, it sounds like a perfectly natural thing to say in contexts such as the one below:

Mr. A: "I bought that computer you were talking about the other day. It works great."

Mr. B: "Which one? I remember mentioning at least three different models."

Either I'm wrong... or Google is one of most inacurrate and unreliable search engines on the Web when it comes to checking grammar and syntax!

I see nothing wrong with your sentences.

I am not going to defend Google here, but we must remember that is is only a search engine. If it finds it, it shows it. Just because it doesn't appear in a Google search doesn't mean that it doesn't exist (it being whatever you are searching for). You should also be careful, as Google can and does return information that is not correct. It is merely a search engine and makes no allowance for the validity of the searches it finds.

RayH · Answer

MarvinTheMartianEither I'm wrong... or Google is one of most inacurrate and unreliable search engines on the Web when it comes to checking grammar and syntax!

I don't know about "most inaccurate and unreliable" but I think it's very unwise to use any search engine to obtain your grammar and syntax advice. After all, much (most) of the writing you find on Web sites is unedited, a lot of it is posted by non-native speakers, native speakers are notorious for our careless and/or playful use of the language, etc., etc.

Use Google to find sites that are intended to teach English but don't use it to verify that something is correct (or incorrect, for that matter).

By the way, I see nothing wrong with your example.

Avangi · Answer

I got 28,800 hits for "remember mentioning";  195,000 for "mentioned at least"

Peaceblinkfriend · Answer

You can use a corpus to see how or how frequently words and phrases are used in a variety of context. Try the British National Corpus. It's free as long as you don't mind it showing only up to 50 random results it gets. You can click on to each entry and check the source of each example.

PBF

Marius Hancu · Answer

RayHI don't know about "most inaccurate and unreliable" but I think it's very unwise to use any search engine to obtain your grammar and syntax advice. After all, much (most) of the writing you find on Web sites is unedited, a lot of it is posted by non-native speakers, native speakers are notorious for our careless and/or playful use of the language, etc., etc.

Not if you're using Google Books, which usually are edited and published books:

BTW:
630 hits on "remember mentioning'
http://books.google.com/books?q=%22remember+mentioning%27&btnG=Search+Books

RayH · Answer

Not if you're using Google Books, which usually are edited and published books

Possibly. Still I've seen several people on these forums end up confused by Google Books due to the fact that a large number of their books are many decades old (even over one hundred years in many cases). Because of that I would advise caution. At the very least be sure that you are looking at a book that was published within the last thirty or forty years.

MarvinTheMartian · Answer

Thank you all for your advice. I understand that Google is a search engine and that, as such, it has limitations. I was just a bit frustrated, probably because I'm sometimes told by English Forums users to use Google to verify my sentence structures... So far, my experience with Google has been exasperating at best.

Just to clarify, English IS my native language... HOWEVER, I suffer from a condition which makes it impossible for me to filter information. In other words, my brain absorbs every bit of information it's exposed to, including, alas, grammatical mistakes and unidiomatic expressions ... And since I live in a cosmopolitan area, I often have to interact with people whith a poor command of English. When that happens, I literally have to "relearn" how to speak, much as an Internet user would debug their computer after visiting seedy websites... It can take me weeks and sometimes even months to be able to speak and write properly again. Does this make sense to any of you?

P.S.: Does my post contain any mistakes? I can't help but second-guess myself because of my condition...

Yankee · Answer

Your post looks fine to me, MTM. [Y]
Out of curiosity, does your condition have a specific name?

Marius Hancu · Answer

RayHNot if you're using Google Books, which usually are edited and published books

Possibly. Still I've seen several people on these forums end up confused by Google Books due to the fact that a large number of their books are many decades old (even over one hundred years in many cases). Because of that I would advise caution. At the very least be sure that you are looking at a book that was published within the last thirty or forty years.

They don't know how to use it. One can go in Advanced Search mode and limit the period:
357 on "remember mentioning" date:1970-2008

http://books.google.com/books?as_q=&num=10&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=remember+mentioning&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_libcat=0&as_brr=0&lr=&as_vt=&as_auth=&as_pub=&as_sub=&as_drrb=c&as_miny=1970&as_maxy=&as_isbn=

MarvinTheMartian · Answer

Thanks, Yankee. My psychiatrist believes it to be a symptom of my Asperger's syndrome. According to him, my neurological makeup is quite unique, making me intellectually superior in almost every way. The downside is it also makes me more vulnerable to my environment (i.e. the slightest error can cause my brain to "glitch".) Does this help you understand?

"I remember mentioning at least..."

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