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HSS Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

Notify

0Somehow I feel the following sentences different than each other in meaning. Upon hearing [1] I assume the speaker told the government not just the fact a noxious gas leaked but how it did when etc. But with [2] it sounds to me like s/he only told the government little more than the fact. Any enlightenment would be appreciated.02br
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00[1] I notified the government of the leak of noxious gas.02br
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00[2] I notified the leak of noxious gas to the government.02br
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00Hiro02br
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00Sendai, Japan0-
  

Top answer

0 The question you raised seems similar to the argument some grammarians are talking about the difference between "She taught John French" and "She taught French to John". According those grammarians, the former should mean "John learned at least some French" but in the latter, "to John" is nothing but the direction of her activity of teaching French so that the sentence does not necessarily mean "John learned French". 02br 02br 00I talked a lot about this question with Ms Casi last year in this forum.

— Paco2004

  • 0 The question you raised seems similar to the argument some grammarians are talking about the difference between "She taught John French" and "She taught French to John".
  • According those grammarians, the former should mean "John learned at least some French" but in the latter, "to John" is nothing but the direction of her activity of teaching French so that the sentence does not necessarily mean "John learned French".
  • 02br 02br 00I talked a lot about this question with Ms Casi last year in this forum.
  • 02br 02br 00paco 040pid67735
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19 Answers
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0 The question you raised seems similar to the argument some grammarians are talking about the difference between "She taught John French" and "She taught French to John". According those grammarians, the former should mean "John learned at least some French" but in the latter, "to John" is nothing but the direction of her activity of teaching French so that the sentence does not necessarily mea
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00Hi, Paco. Hi, everyone.02br
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00I've looked on the function of "on" in sentences such as "I notified the government of leak of noxious gas" as the same of "about" --- concerning, regarding, etc. This has led me to my sense of difference:02br
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00[1] I notified the government of leak of noxious gas.02br
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0 Hello HSS02br
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00As for the difference in the quantity or extent of information between "I notified X of Y" and "I notified X of Y", I have no idea. What I can say is that "I notified X of Y" means the receiver X certainly received at least some of the information Y. It describes an event where the two persons (the speaker and the receiver Y) are involved. On the other
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01cite10HSS12cite12br
10Somehow I feel the following sentences different than each other in meaning. Upon hearing [1] I assume the speaker told the government not just the fact a noxious gas leaked but how it did when etc. But with [2] it sounds to me like s/he only told the government little more than the fact. Any enlightenment
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0Hi guys,02br
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01font00[1] I notified the government of the leak of noxious gas.02font02br
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01font00[2] I notified the leak of noxious gas to the government.02font02br
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00To me, #2 just seems wrong. 01i00'To notify'02i00 means 't
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0 HSS,02br
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01i00notify02i00 can't take an inanimate object like 01i00leak02i00. Also, it can't take a 01i00to02i00 phrase indicating the person(s) notified.02br
00 To make the second sentence correct, you would need to substitute another verb. I suggest 01i00reveal02i00
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0 Hi02br
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00It is very interesting to know "notify a thing to a person" sounds ungrammatical to the ears of every American. I checked in my dictionary and confirmed that this construct is British English.02br
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00"In 1973 BMW introduced a new standard form of agreement with its German dealers and notified the agreement to EEC Commission." [url=www.c
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0Hi,02br
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00Many English speaking people would not look to government writing for examples of excellence.02br
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00Would you say that the Japanese government writes well?02br
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00Best wishes, Clive0-
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0 The governmental officers in Japan were once well known to be special kinds of Japanese who write something Japanese-like but actually gibberish to all Japanese except themselves. But now they are trying to improve their writing skills.02br
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00paco 0-
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0Hi,02br
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00Generaly speaking, the same might be said of bureaucrats in English-speaking countries. Except that they are not trying to improve.02br
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00Best wishes, Clive0-
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