Sentence structure
First of all , hi 1) we learned at school that it was wrong to tell someone a lie 2) we learned it was wrong to tell someone a lie at school . Which one is correct ? What are differences between them ? Thanks in advance
Top answer
The second one sounds like it is OK to tell a lie when you are not at school, which is not what is meant. By the time the reader gets to the adverbial prepositional phrase "at school" he has been buried in grammar concerning the infinitive "to tell"—the indirect object "someone" and the direct object "a lie"—and if he wants to apply "at school" to "learned", he has to tunnel back there like a gopher. The sentence is not grammatically wrong except insofar as it does not say what you want it to.
- The second one sounds like it is OK to tell a lie when you are not at school, which is not what is meant.
- By the time the reader gets to the adverbial prepositional phrase "at school" he has been buried in grammar concerning the infinitive "to tell"—the indirect object "someone" and the direct object "a lie"—and if he wants to apply "at school" to "learned", he has to tunnel back there like a gopher.
- The sentence is not grammatically wrong except insofar as it does not say what you want it to.
- People say things like that all the time and wish they hadn't.
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The second one sounds like it is OK to tell a lie when you are not at school, which is not what is meant. By the time the reader gets to the adverbial prepositional phrase "at school" he has been buried in grammar concerning the infinitive "to tell"—the indirect object "someone" and the direct object "a lie"—and if he wants to apply "at school" to "learned", he has to tunnel back there like a
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