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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
Reporting verbs, explain
Hello,
This question came up with one of my ESL students:
His sentence: I called in the manager and explain him the situation.
I corrected it to: I called in the manager and explained the situation to him.
But now... I have to explain to my student the logic behind the correction. However, I'm unsure myself and haven't found a helpful source so far...
So I know that explained him doesn't make sense because in reality you explained the situation. In the grammar sources I have found they suggest explain as being followed with a question word or that (explained that ... or explained why...) so why does this 'exception' exist?
Thanks
This question came up with one of my ESL students:
His sentence: I called in the manager and explain him the situation.
I corrected it to: I called in the manager and explained the situation to him.
But now... I have to explain to my student the logic behind the correction. However, I'm unsure myself and haven't found a helpful source so far...
So I know that explained him doesn't make sense because in reality you explained the situation. In the grammar sources I have found they suggest explain as being followed with a question word or that (explained that ... or explained why...) so why does this 'exception' exist?
Thanks
Top answer
I called in the manager and explain him the situation. This is not difficult, but there are two different points of grammar. 1) The sentence has a compound verb.
- I called in the manager and explain him the situation.
- This is not difficult, but there are two different points of grammar.
- 1) The sentence has a compound verb.
- Separate the compound verb into two sentences: I called in the manager.
- I explained the situation.
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1 Answers
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I called in the manager and explain him the situation.
This is not difficult, but there are two different points of grammar.
1) The sentence has a compound verb. Separate the compound verb into two sentences:
I called in the manager.
I explained the situation.
The combination is the entire past action - called and explained.
When you w
This is not difficult, but there are two different points of grammar.
1) The sentence has a compound verb. Separate the compound verb into two sentences:
I called in the manager.
I explained the situation.
The combination is the entire past action - called and explained.
When you w
0
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