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Tarirotari Posted 16 years ago
Grammar
She apologized for having broken his watch
Hi,
Take a look at these sentences, please,
1. She apologized for breaking his watch
2. She apologized for having broken his watch
a. I would use sentence number 1, but number 2 is ok as well, isn't it?
b. Does the sense change at all from 1 to 2?
c. Would anyone use number 2?
Thank you.
Take a look at these sentences, please,
1. She apologized for breaking his watch
2. She apologized for having broken his watch
a. I would use sentence number 1, but number 2 is ok as well, isn't it?
b. Does the sense change at all from 1 to 2?
c. Would anyone use number 2?
Thank you.
Top answer
I HAVE CHECKED MY GRAMMAR BOOKS BEFORE POSTING (1) I think that I can give you an informed answer regarding She apologized for having broken his watch. (a) If I understand my books correctly, this is an example of a perfect gerund representing time that is antecedent to that of the main verb. (i) In other words: She apologized (on Tuesday) for having broken his watch (on Monday).
- I HAVE CHECKED MY GRAMMAR BOOKS BEFORE POSTING (1) I think that I can give you an informed answer regarding She apologized for having broken his watch.
- (a) If I understand my books correctly, this is an example of a perfect gerund representing time that is antecedent to that of the main verb.
- (i) In other words: She apologized (on Tuesday) for having broken his watch (on Monday).
- (b) Regarding your first sentence, I am 80% confident that it would be used if the apology immediately followed the breaking.
- Let's see what the language experts say.
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3 Answers
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I HAVE CHECKED MY GRAMMAR BOOKS BEFORE POSTING
(1) I think that I can give you an informed answer regarding
She apologized for having broken his watch.
(a) If I understand my books correctly, this is an example of a perfect
gerund representing time that is antecedent to that of the main verb.
(i) In other words:
She apo
(1) I think that I can give you an informed answer regarding
She apologized for having broken his watch.
(a) If I understand my books correctly, this is an example of a perfect
gerund representing time that is antecedent to that of the main verb.
(i) In other words:
She apo
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Parser, I always respect your well-reasoned answers.
At first, I thought there was no semantic difference at all, but I believe you are right in that "for having" certainly sounds like the action of breaking the watch occurred at some point in the non-immediate past.
At first, I thought there was no semantic difference at all, but I believe you are right in that "for having" certainly sounds like the action of breaking the watch occurred at some point in the non-immediate past.
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Thak you both,
I had been racking my brains over this one.
My feeling was that it was the other way round, I would have thought the perfect gerund implied that the "breaking" of the watch had ocurred at a time closer to the time of speaking than the regular gerund.
Thanks again.
I had been racking my brains over this one.
My feeling was that it was the other way round, I would have thought the perfect gerund implied that the "breaking" of the watch had ocurred at a time closer to the time of speaking than the regular gerund.
Thanks again.
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