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Teo Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

You could ask before you borrow my car.

1i001. You could ask before you borrow my car. 2. You could have asked before you borrowed my car.02i02br
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00Sentence #2 is logical. You borrowed my with adsking me. I am not happy.02br
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00But sentence #1 is semantically odd to me. Can anyone imagine a situation in which #1 is acceptable?0-
  

Top answer

02br 02br 00To borrow something means to take or obtain it with the promise to return. 0-

— Inchoateknowledge

  • 02br 02br 00To borrow something means to take or obtain it with the promise to return.
  • 0-
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35 Answers
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0To begin with, 01b01i00to ask02i02b00 is a transitive verb in that sense in the sentence it is used.02br
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00You could ask for my car, before you borrow it.02br
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00To borrow something means to take or obtain it with the promise to return. When you borrow something, you ask for permission to use it.02br
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0 I'm not sure but IMHO it should be like below02br
00You 01i00should/could02i00 have asked first, before you 01i00had taken/took02i00 my car.0-
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0 Hi, here's my guess:02br
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01i00You could ask 05000 before taking my car!02br
00You could ask 05100 before you took my car!02i02br
00I see that "could" as the past tense of "can" (i.e. the past of "You can ask me before taking my car"). It's difficult to find a context for those sentences as they are... and I think it
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Teo12cite11i101. You could ask before you borrow my car. 12i12blockquote
10Sentence #1 is quoted from 01i00Practical English Usage, Michael Swan.02i0-
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0Both sentences sound normal to me. 02br
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01i00You could ask (me for my permission) before you borrow my car02i00. This is a reprimand or criticism and states what the speaker feels is always the correct thing to do. My assumption is that the opposite has just happened (i.e. no permission was sought).02br
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01i00You could
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Teo12cite12br
11blockquote
11cite20Teo22cite21i201. You could ask before you borrow my car. 22i22blockquote
20Sentence #1 is quoted from 11i10Practical English Usage, Michael Swan.12i12br
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12blockquote
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0to borrow without permission = theft0-
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1i00"You could ask (me for my permission) before you borrow my car02i00."02br
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00It would only make sense if he could borrow my car without permission too.02br
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00Borrow includes the idea to ask for permission to use something.0-
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Kooyeen12cite10By the way, I don't think "borrow" is ok in all these sentences. I think you can borrow a thing only if someone lends you that thing, that is, you have to ask to borrow something. Anyway I'm not sure, in my language there's not the equivalent to "borrow"...12br
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10I agree wit
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0The word 'borrow' basically means 'use someone else's property temporarily'. 02br
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00Yes, you can 01b00also 02b00use the word 'take' instead of 'borrow' in the sentence. Using the word 'borrow' indicates a situation among friends or family and the knowledge that there's a chance that permission will be granted (and possibly already has been grant
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