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Vincent Teo Posted 18 years ago
Grammar
told about
Can I say,
(a) John told about the thief and gave the address to the police.
(b) John talked about the thief to the police with a phone at the telephone booth.
(a) John told about the thief and gave the address to the police.
(b) John talked about the thief to the police with a phone at the telephone booth.
Top answer
(a) John reported the theft and gave the address to the police. (b) John reported the theft to the police from the telephone booth.
- (a) John reported the theft and gave the address to the police.
- (b) John reported the theft to the police from the telephone booth.
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8 Answers
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(a) John reported the theft and gave the address to the police.
(b) John reported the theft to the police from the telephone booth.
(a) John reported the theft and gave the address to the police.
(b) John reported the theft to the police from the telephone booth.
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Can I say,
(a) John told the police about the thief and gave the address.
(a) John told the police about the thief and gave the address.
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The meaning sounds unusual, Vincent, unless John saw the thief and observed him at length.
The meaning sounds unusual, Vincent, unless John saw the thief and observed him at length.
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Sorry to interrupt.
MM, can we say, onlookers told the police about the accident when the police arrived later.
MM, can we say, onlookers told the police about the accident when the police arrived later.
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Thanks, MM. I agree with you but I already typed police in the first clause and when it came to the second clause I felt I couldn't say 'they' as it would represent onlookers and didn't know what was a good substitute so I repeated police. Any suggestions?
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That's one problem with trying to deal with example sentences out of context. Context and common sense would tell us that 'them' = 'police'.
That's one problem with trying to deal with example sentences out of context. Context and common sense would tell us that 'them' = 'police'.
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