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Chinamania
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Past Perfect
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I had an argument today about this :
The immigrants had never felt such homesickness before they moved to NY.
which action happened first ?
can we consider the negative verb as an action that happened first?
or is the meaning : they first came to New York and then felt homesick?
does the verb being negative affect the order of events with "before" ?
are there two answers to this question?
I need a deep linguistic explanation please..
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21 May 2013
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pilarmham
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I would say it has nothing to do with the negative verb, but with the fact that someone went to N.Y. and had never felt homesick BEFORE, therefore the Past Perfect form.
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21 May 2013
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Chinamania
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mmmm, logical , thanks for the reply .. but does the word such imply that they did feel homesick after moving? |
21 May 2013
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yanogator
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Yes, definitely. They felt a homesickness after moving to a degree that they had never felt before moving. That �s what the sentence is saying.Does that help? Bruce |
21 May 2013
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Chinamania
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yes that certainly made the meaning and the grammar point clear .. thanks for your time and help |
21 May 2013
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Jayho
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They moved to NY then felt homesick.
Does it make more sense to you if you remove never?
The immigrants had felt homesickness before they moved to NY makes it clearer. So adding never then makes it the opposite meaning
OR
just simplify it to get a better understanding
The immigrants never felt homesick before they moved to NY.
Cheers
Jayho |
21 May 2013
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yanogator
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@Jayho, You �re overlooking the word "such". They had felt homesickness before, just not to the same degree. Bruce |
21 May 2013
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Chinamania
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thanks Jayho .. I see your point .. so the verb being negative makes it the opposite meaning but it doesn �t change the fact that (not) feeling homesick happened first.
problem solved :) |
21 May 2013
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Chinamania
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I wish you were my academic supervisor Bruce :) |
21 May 2013
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Jayho
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Ok Bruce - didn �t quite pick up on that - sorry Chinamania
Cheers
Jayho |
21 May 2013
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Chinamania
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No, actually you also helped Jayho, thanks for your time and concern |
21 May 2013
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