That you had told me about in that town

Question

I made up a pretty interesting sentence which confuses me. The context is there are two people who met each other in some town and one of them told the other about a chiildren's play area where no dogs were allowed, Then later the guy who was told about it says that he saw this children's play area. How to say it?

I saw the children's play area that you had told me about in that town where no dogs were allowed.

I saw the children's play area where no dogs were allowed that you had told me about in that town

The problem is the sentence 1 may inform us that no dogs were allowed in the town where the area was told about, but not in the area itself. At the same time the sentence 2 may tell us that the person told about the dogs but not about the play area.

Also I can suppose that if we want to say that the guy told about the dogs we should say:

I saw the children's play area where no dogs that you had told me about in that town were allowed

So, how should I say it if he saw the childrens' play area where no dogs were allowed and also he mentions that he was told about it by his friend in that town?

The solution on https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/that-you-had-told-me-about-in-that-town.3718086/#post-18970939 hasn't been gotten yet. Therefore I am intersted what other people are thinking about this case.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

I would not use past perfect.

In speech, practically any sequence of those phrases will convey the correct meaning with the right pauses, gestures and tones. In writing, you're pretty much screwed. It's time to drop back ten and punt. Write as many sentences as it takes to be clear instead of trying to finesse everything into a tidy package.

CalifJim · Answer

TheeI made up a pretty interesting sentence which confuses me.

That's usually a sign that there's something wrong with the sentence.

TheeThe context is there are two people who met each other in some town and one of them told the other about a children's play area where no dogs were allowed.

You could make this better by using real names of people and places. 'some town', 'one person', 'another person', 'the other person', and expressions like this only confuse your reader.

Besides, this account leaves out information about where the two people were at the time of this conversation and if the playground was in the same town or in a different town.

While walking in the town of Dimton, Jack told Frank that there was a children's playground in Britevil where no dogs were allowed. (???)

While walking in the town of Dimton, Jack told Frank that there was a local children's playground where no dogs were allowed. (???)

TheeThen later the guy who was told about it says that he saw this children's play area.

Later, Frank said that he saw the playground. (But to whom did he say this?)

TheeHow to say it?

Frank said that he saw the playground that Jack had told him about.

OR

Frank said, "I saw the playground that Jack told me about".

OR, if Frank is speaking to Jack.

Frank said, "I saw the playground that you told me about".

TheeTherefore I am interested what other people are thinking about this case.

In the rest of your post you are just tying yourself into knots because you are trying to say more than is necessary in the given situation.

You should also note that when you have multiple modifiers for the same noun, you are usually going to create ambiguities that cannot be resolved without making radical changes to your sentences.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

TheeI saw the children's play area that you had told me about in that town where no dogs were allowed.

I saw the children's play area where no dogs were allowed that you had told me about in that town

You may not like my comment. It's a badly constructed sentence in my opinion. Honestly, it is not natural. I read it 3 times just to make sure I was reading it right. That may be the reason why you didn't get the response you had hoped. The problem with this sentence was that you used two relative pronouns trying to tie the non-essential information together but ended in a rather awkward way. Also, "children's play area" sounds like a sandbox in a park which is the reason for not allowing dogs. What I mean is, "the no dog allowed", doesn't have to be tied together by a pronoun, and "in that town" is superfluous.

e.g. I saw the children's play area with the "no dog allowed" sign that you mentioned/ told me about. That would be the core equivalent of your sentence.

Let's set up another scenario in which you were driving to meet your friend at the park with the description from him. You arrived at the park and found the play area but you didn't see your friend. So you called him and say" I am at the sandbox (play area) with the "no dog allowed" sign, I don't see you. Am I at the right place?

That you had told me about in that town

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