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Seagull Posted 10 years ago
Grammar

The choice of verbs and prepositions

Unless the battery is dead, you can [get / receive / follow] the latest news [with / by / on] your smartphone.

Q1 Which item should we use in each of the two brackets?

Q2 Can we replace the first clause with "Unless the battery runs out"? If we can, which sounds more natural compared with the original clause?

Q3 Does the following sentence sound natural? -- Unless the battery is dead, smartphones can get the latest news.
  

Top answer

1. All three verbs work in the first position. Of the options given, "on" is the best choice in the second case.

— GPY

  • 1.
  • All three verbs work in the first position.
  • Of the options given, "on" is the best choice in the second case.
  • "by" is not correct.
  • "with" makes sense but is not as good a choice as "on".
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3 Answers
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1. All three verbs work in the first position. Of the options given, "on" is the best choice in the second case. "by" is not correct. "with" makes sense but is not as good a choice as "on". "through" or "via" would also work.

2. Both are fine.

3. The wording is natural English, but the idea of smartphones "getting" the news does not work for me quite as well as the first sentence
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I understand.
Thank you very much for your clear and informative answer, GPY.
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P.S. I myself think that the first clause is not necessary. In fact, this problem comes from an English translation question. There is a clause that mentions the battery in the original text.
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