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Moon7296 Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
to infinitive
He couldn't live to see his daughter's marriage.
Q) Does it mean "He" died and was not able to see his daughter's marriage?
Or is the sentence ambiguous?
Q) Does it mean "He" died and was not able to see his daughter's marriage?
Or is the sentence ambiguous?
Top answer
It means that he died before his daughter's marriage took place, though "He didn't live to see his daughter's marriage" would be more usual.
- It means that he died before his daughter's marriage took place, though "He didn't live to see his daughter's marriage" would be more usual.
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4 Answers
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It means that he died before his daughter's marriage took place, though "He didn't live to see his daughter's marriage" would be more usual.
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He couldn't live to see his daughter's marriage.
Q) Does it mean "He" died and was not able to see his daughter's marriage? Yes, that seems the obvious meaning.
Or is the sentence ambiguous? I suppose you cou
Q) Does it mean "He" died and was not able to see his daughter's marriage? Yes, that seems the obvious meaning.
Or is the sentence ambiguous? I suppose you cou
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Clive I suppose you could take it to mean he would prefer to die rather than see his daughter's marriage.Is this the ambiguity you mean?Yes, exactly!
Actually that meaning was the only meaning I could think of whenever I saw that sentence. I'm not sure which of the two interpretations come to mind first without context.
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