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Magic-dragon Posted 5 years ago
Grammar

In the summer --- habit or schedule?

A: In the summer we take a vacation and go to Hawaii.

I think A is ambiguous in that you can judge the present tense of "take" as meaning either a habitual event or a scheduled event. Am I right?

If so, in order to make A only mean a habitual event, should I add "usually" before "take" or change "in the summer" to "every summer"?

  

Top answer

Magic-dragon I think A is ambiguous in that you can judge the present tense of "take" as meaning either a habitual event or a scheduled event. Am I right? I had to reread several times to see what you meant.

  • Magic-dragon I think A is ambiguous in that you can judge the present tense of "take" as meaning either a habitual event or a scheduled event.
  • Am I right?
  • I had to reread several times to see what you meant.
  • On first reading, it unambiguously means that you go to Hawaii every summer.
  • The present tense for planned action does not work here.
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2 Answers
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Magic-dragonI think A is ambiguous in that you can judge the present tense of "take" as meaning either a habitual event or a scheduled event. Am I right?

I had to reread several times to see what you meant. On first reading, it unambiguously means that you go to Hawaii every summer. The present tense for planned action does not work here.

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Here's a small further comment.

Instead of we take a vacation and go to Hawaii,

it's more natural to me to say we go to Hawaii on vacation.

Clive

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